INGENIEUR
In summary , the toxic emissions by both the new LiBs and SLBs are likely to be the same as both will be operating at their highest capacities under various operating temperatures . Interestingly , reduction in the use of new LiBs for various other applications that can utilise SLB instead will help to minimise the
CO 2 emission significantly due to lesser electricity usage than in the manufacture of new LiBs .
COST EFFECTIVE AND ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY SOLUTION
Usage of SLB provides a cost-effective solution to the EV car manufacturing industries . Presently , the price of the discarded EV battery storage is built into the cost of the EV car at time of purchase . If there is a sustainable solution which allows for the use of the discarded batteries , then the cost savings will make the purchase of the EV car cheaper in the first place . In the long term , this will reduce the cost of EV car purchases , and will allow the EV car market to penetrate a larger market with varying income levels , sustaining the EV car business for a longer time .
Using EV batteries as ESSs allows us to apply two main principles in waste management , thus providing a cleaner solution to combat pollution , weaning off natural resources , and battling climate change . Firstly , the waste management principle of “ Extending the Life Cycle of a Product ” ( Xiao et al . , 2019 ) is applied . This is simply another way of reiterating the old concept of reuse , but now there is a specific use in a larger scale for the product in question . Applying this concept to EV batteries gives the battery a “ second life ” or a specific second use as an energy storage system . The benefits of reusing the EV batteries for another five to seven years provides a cleaner solution to the environment .
The second concept of waste management which is “ Zero Waste ” ( Atia et al ., 2019 ) is applied by not building additional warehouses , which prevents us from creating the waste , i . e . the warehouses , in the first place . Other byproducts waste from the construction process is also prevented . Construction of warehouses may require the destruction of flora and fauna , which should be preserved as natural absorbents of carbon dioxide footprints .
MANAGING SECOND LIFE BATTERIES
Repurposing batteries is not as easy an undertaking as it sounds . They are not plugand-play technologies . Discarded EV batteries cannot be re-used directly as they need to go through several stages before they are ready to be used in SLB applications . Therefore , the management of SLB is critical and due attention must be given . Once EV batteries hit 70-80 % of their initial capacity , batteries will be sent for assessment , rearrangement , and repackaging . During the assessment , requirements are set , based on the standards , to determine which cells / modules to keep and which to discard . For example , batteries which have voltages dropped below the cut-off voltage as well as batteries with a significant increment in internal resistance that lowers their power capabilities have to be discarded . Visual inspection is included in the assessment to identify physically damaged cells . During rearrangement , batteries with similar characteristics will be arranged and grouped together . It is worth mentioning that all LiBs batteries come with different parameters in terms of cell voltage , size , shape ( cylindrical , pouch and prismatic ) and chemistry . All these differences must be taken into consideration during the rearranging process . Other studies have suggested to group those batteries with similar remaining capacity levels together . It was further suggested that cells must be arranged according to the similarity in terms of their internal resistance to avoid circulating current ; which happens in-between batteries that have high variation in internal resistances . Lastly , when it comes to repackaging , the voltage level and remaining capacity of the new pack of the battery must be considered . It is because different applications would require different voltage levels where some of them might be as low as 48V or as high as 1000V in others . Also , space could be another constraint . Therefore , higher remaining capacity must be taken into account as not all EV discarded batteries will have the same remaining capacity ( Dulout and Villa 2019 ; Warner 2015 ).
SLB assessment should receive more attention from Governments , policymakers , industries , and researchers . As of now , the SLB
74 VOL 85 JANUARY - MARCH 2021