Resumen de Second life batteries of electric vehicles: analysis of use and management models
The mobility of the future undoubtedly involves the electrification of vehicles. The increase in social awareness towards a reduction in CO2 emissions, together with the introduction of new laws regulating them, has finally led to an increase in the sales of electric vehicles. Furthermore, this trend is expected to continue to increase due to the global interest in reducing these emissions.
The growth in sales has meant that lithium-ion batteries have become an indispensable element in the automotive sector. The overall emissions of an electric car are between 20 and 40 % lower than those of conventional vehicles, with the current energy mix. With the increase in green power generation, the EU expects to reduce emissions by up to 75 % by 2050 compared to fossil fuel vehicles.
The battery, like any other vehicle component, wears out over time and use. Car manufacturers recommend that when these batteries reach 70 % of their health, they should be replaced, as the manufacturers cannot guarantee their proper functioning and they could suffer a drastic drop in capacity, i.e. in the vehicle's range.
However, before these batteries are recycled, there is a possibility that they could be reused, as they still have enough power and capacity, to be used in other, less demanding applications. As a result, the reuse of these batteries, whose cost represents between 30 and 40 % of the final price of an electric vehicle, is seen within the automotive sector as a great possibility to reduce the selling price of the electric car and make it more competitive than internal combustion cars.
Batteries have therefore become an indispensable element not only for the automotive industry, but also for any application that needs to store electrical energy. Consequently, it is already suggested that there is a market niche where these batteries could have great potential. The objective of reducing the heavy dependence on fossil fuels has led to an increase in renewable energies in the European energy mix. Their intermittence opens the door for energy storage sources to cover the moments when there is no generation.
Giving a second life to electric vehicle batteries has prompted the research interest of this doctoral thesis, which analyses different new models of use and business once they are no longer valid for the automobile.
