Could Retired EV Batteries Support Other Tech Advances?

There is no denying that the technology underpinning electric vehicle (EV) batteries has moved on considerably since the first-generation EVs were launched over 14 years ago. 

In fact, research published recently by Recurrent, revealed that on average, an EV battery retains 97 per cent of its range after three years of use and 95 per cent of its range after five years of use. 

What’s more, average range in real driving conditions has reached 325 miles, while super-fast charging points mean that many EV drivers can add a further 100 miles to their range in as little as ten minutes.

All of this data highlights how far EVs have come – and why more and more drivers are turning to this technology for their personal transport needs. 

However, there are still questions about how to use old EV batteries, as the original vehicles to hit the roads are reaching the end of their lifespan. 

 

How can you reuse old EV batteries?

One suggestion of how to reuse EV batteries that have reached the end of their life in a vehicle is to repurpose them into stationary grid storage. This would provide a way to store energy produced by renewable sources when it isn’t needed immediately, for instance. 

This has already moved beyond simply an idea, with several companies in the US already taking used EV batteries and repurposing them to provide electricity storage for the country’s grid.

The reason this works is because while the battery’s storage capacity is not high enough at the end of its life to work for drivers, it is plenty when it’s used for stationary storage. 

An article for IEEE Spectrum delved into the issue and explained that most EV batteries are retired when they reach 70 to 80 per cent of their initial capacity. This still provides a great deal of energy storage, even if it’s not enough for an EV.

Once these batteries drop below the capacity at which they are valuable as stationary storage, they could then be recycled to recover the valuable metals and minerals they contain, such as lithium, cobalt, copper and nickel.

This isn’t only an approach that’s happening in the US either. Canadian firm Moment Energy announced earlier this year that it was building the world’s largest EV battery repurposing factory in Vancouver to turn EV batteries into grid storage. 

The aim is to tap into the significant value of retired EV batteries, which is a resource that is currently not being used effectively, if at all. 

 

Does this mean data centres could also use retired EV batteries?

There are certainly many in the industry who believe retired EV batteries could have a role to play in supporting the data centres that will need power to keep up with the advances in AI technology and use.

General Motors (GM) is one of the first companies to publicly state that it is exploring this avenue, announcing last month that it is using its knowledge from developing EV batteries to work on producing batteries for large-scale energy storage. 

One of the keys, according to GM, is creating EV batteries with bidirectional capabilities. This means that a household could use the power in its EV to provide an electricity supply to the home in the event of a grid failure.

The idea is that these batteries are already designed to provide energy to the grid, as well as to accept it when charging, which makes them more versatile at every stage of their lifecycle. 

As well as being beneficial for utilities companies, this approach will also help data centres that need a significant amount of energy to operate. 

 

How could this impact the UK’s EV sector?

There’s no doubt that these advances could have a knock-on effect to the UK’s EV sector and indeed the way in which used EV batteries are repurposed around the world. 

The demand for lithium zirconate and other key chemical components of EV batteries is on the rise as more drivers switch to these kinds of vehicles, and repurposing old batteries is a useful way to keep these valuable components in circulation for longer. 

It remains to be seen whether any UK-based companies are going to follow the lead of those across the Atlantic to focus on repurposing retired EV batteries for either energy storage or data centre power. 

But it seems the EV battery repurposing market could prove to be very lucrative if it is approached in the right way. Not to mention that it is better for the planet and prevents valuable materials from going to waste.