End of Electric Vehicle Batteries: Reuse vs. Recycle

Yash Kotak, Carlos Marchante Fernández, Lluc Canals Casals, Bhavya Satishbhai Kotak, Daniel Koch, Christian Geisbauer, Lluís Trilla, Alberto Gómez-Núñez and Hans-Georg Schweiger
Additional contact information
Yash Kotak: Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt, CARISSMA Institute of Electric, Connected and Secure Mobility (C-ECOS), Esplanade 10, D-85049 Ingolstadt, Germany
Carlos Marchante Fernández: Eurecat-Centre Tecnologic de Catalunya, Unit of Waste, Energy and Environmental Impact, Av. Universtat Autonoma, 23, 08290 Cerdanyola Del Valles, Spain
Lluc Canals Casals: Department of Engineering Projects and Construction, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), C\Jordi Girona 31, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
Bhavya Satishbhai Kotak: Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt, CARISSMA Institute of Electric, Connected and Secure Mobility (C-ECOS), Esplanade 10, D-85049 Ingolstadt, Germany
Daniel Koch: Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt, CARISSMA Institute of Electric, Connected and Secure Mobility (C-ECOS), Esplanade 10, D-85049 Ingolstadt, Germany
Christian Geisbauer: Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt, CARISSMA Institute of Electric, Connected and Secure Mobility (C-ECOS), Esplanade 10, D-85049 Ingolstadt, Germany
Lluís Trilla: Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC), Jardins de les Dones de Negre 1, 08930 Barcelona, Spain
Alberto Gómez-Núñez: Eurecat-Centre Tecnologic de Catalunya, Unit of Waste, Energy and Environmental Impact, Av. Universtat Autonoma, 23, 08290 Cerdanyola Del Valles, Spain
Hans-Georg Schweiger: Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt, CARISSMA Institute of Electric, Connected and Secure Mobility (C-ECOS), Esplanade 10, D-85049 Ingolstadt, Germany

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 8, 1-15

Abstract: It is a fact that electric vehicles (EVs) are beneficial for climate protection. However, the current challenge is to decide on whether to reuse an EV battery or to recycle it after its first use. This paper theoretically investigates these areas i.e., recycle and reuse. It was found that there are several commercially used recycling processes and also some are under research to regain maximum possible materials and quantity. The concept of reusing (second life) of the battery is promising because, at the end of the first life, batteries from EVs can be used in several applications such as storing energy generated from renewable sources to support the government grid. However, the cost and life-cycle analysis (LCA) demonstrated that there are several aspects involved in battery reuse applications. Henceforth, one LCA generalised method cannot provide an optimal approach for all cases. It is important to have a detailed study on each of the battery reusing applications. Until then, it is safe to say that reusing the battery is a good option as it would give some time to recycling companies to develop cost and energy-efficient methods.

Keywords: battery recycling; battery reuse; battery second life; circular economy; lithium-ion cells; electric vehicles; battery components recycling; sustainability in mobility; battery safety; battery cost analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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