Automotive Giving batteries a second chance
Amidst all the media reports highlighting the need to switch to electric cars, consideration has to be given to what happens to spent batteries when they reach the end of their practical usage in cars. Connected Energy, an international leader in second-life battery energy storage systems, is dedicated to maximising the value realised from the resources embedded in electric vehicle (EV) batteries. CIE contributor Aneela Rose speaks to Matthew Lumsden, CEO of Connected Energy, for his take on what the future holds for this fledgling, yet crucial, industry
Aneela Rose: What are the key challenges arising from EV manufacturers understanding the value in second life EV batteries? Matthew Lumsden: The key challenge to making the widespread use of second life batteries a reality is linking up the whole EV and energy storage value chain. Success requires industry alignment as well as enabling technology and new business models.
The average life-cycle of an EV battery is around ten years at the moment. If this increases in the coming years, is Connected Energy still in a good position commercially? Yes, for the foreseeable future batteries will continue to degrade and improved performance will cause EV owners to choose to upgrade batteries. Batteries may gradually take longer to move into second life but there will still be value to capture before they are recycled.
You’re giving EV batteries a second lease of life, how do you see the future of battery disposal when that second life comes to an end? Can they be disposed of in an ethical, environmentally friendly manner?
Recycled materials will become an increasingly important component of vehicle build so the processes to capture them must become more efficient and
effective. Tools like battery passports will also serve to help track materials so that their origin and journey can be monitored. At present, relatively low volumes of batteries moving through to recycling are hampering the efficiencies of logistics and process but these should improve dramatically over coming years.
There’s still reluctance amongst motorists to switch to EV’s in the UK, mainly due to cost. If this cost comes down dramatically, how will Connected Energy manage the increasing numbers of spent batteries becoming available in ten years from now?
Scale-up is our primary focus at present. We
are developing our technology so that it can be deployed at utility scale and working with our battery supply partners to understand availability
projections so we can ensure projects are in place to receive batteries. One key area of our activity at the moment involves working with finance partners to ensure we have a bankable replicable model so we can roll out a pipeline of large-scale systems.
Was COP26 seen as a help or a hindrance to Connected Energy’s future strategies?
COP26 did not do any harm but in our view, there is not enough emphasis on the circular economy and its potential impact.
In your opinion, which countries appear to be the most amenable to the adoption of second life battery storage systems? Are some nations lagging behind others?
The industry is extremely new and finding its feet everywhere. It does not yet make sense to pursue second life in markets where EVs have not yet established some mature traction, it isn’t cost effective or sustainable to ship batteries long distances. Key markets for growth are those where EVs have been in operation for five years plus and where there is a business case for energy storage.
Second life batteries are likely to last a decade or more when used in stationary storage applications. In time, could you see this life lasting for several decades rather than several years?
14 December/January 2022 Components in Electronics
In the short term second life batteries are likely to last five to 10 years and that period will definitely extend. However, lifetime depends on how the batteries are cycled. Whilst energy storage systems using new batteries are typically operated to give the batteries as long a life as possible, second life systems may be designed to extract the additional value as soon as possible, thereby also potentially extending the life of new battery systems if the two are combined in a portfolio.
What’s next for Connected Energy? We have increasingly good visibility of how the second life battery flow is likely to develop over the next five and 10 years so our focus is on creating a scalable business in the UK and overseas to meet with that opportunity.
Given the rapid acceleration in EV ownership of late, it’s easy to see why companies like Connected Energy will have an increasingly important role to play. Switching to electric cars has an immediate impact on the environment, but not doing enough to utilise the second life of batteries in the future could create further problems for the planet.
About the author Aneela Rose is the founder and managing director of Sussex-based Rose Media Group. Aneela is a multi-award
winning B2B PR specialist focusing on sustainability in the business sector. With an aerospace industry background and 25 years’ experience working within manufacturing and engineering, she is now specialising in green energy specifically around the topics of electrification of society, EV batteries and hydrogen fuel cell technology.
www.cieonline.co.uk
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