Allocation of Battery Production Impact between EVs and Battery Reuse Applications

Abstract

Significant environmental impacts associated with electric vehicle (EV) Li-ion battery pack production has lead to a desire to explore the possibility of offsetting some of the environmental burdens associated with the battery pack production from the EV to a post-vehicle application. In this study, different battery characteristics were calculated in order to allocate environmental EV Li-ion battery pack production impacts between an EV and selected reuse applications. The battery characteristics lifetime, the number of equivalent full cycles, the number of Wh discharged from the battery, and economic value of the battery pack for its first life and second life applications were calculated by using a suitable software. By literature research the most viable reuse applications of post- vehicle Li-ion batteries were found based on technical, practical and economical feasibility. It was found that reuse of battery packs after being used in EVs can be technically and economically feasible. It was found that area regulation, residential load following, and intermittent renewable energy time-shift are applications with the highest market potential for reuse of EV Li-ion battery packs. The study showed that if a battery pack is reused after being removed from an EV, a significant share of the environmental Li-ion battery pack production impacts can be attributed to a second life application in addition to the battery pack s first life in the EV. In the best case scenario, the GWP caused by EV Li-ion battery pack production was reduced by 87% and the total cradle-to-grave GWP caused by an EV can in the best case scenario be reduced by 15 %. This paper allows for a quantified understanding of the environmental benefits associated with EV Li-ion battery reuse. This is a topic has not yet been covered in the literature. The study provides new information of the environmental impacts associated with EV Li-ion batteries and gives the discussion of the environmental benefits of EVs a new aspect to consider.