Second life application of automotive Li-ion batteries: Ageing during first and second use and life cycle assessment

The commercialisation of electric vehicles has accelerated in the global market, responding to the need of global CO2 emissions reduction and of energy security. This, in turn, has led to rapidly increasing demand for high-energy density traction Li-ion batteries, and will also translate into an increase of waste xEV batteries after having reached first use End-of-Life in vehicles. Collected batteries are typically recycled. However, their residual capacity could be used in second use applications before recycling. The performance of Li-ion cells, namely change of capacity and impedance during calendar and cycle ageing has been analysed beyond the end of first use. Fresh cells, cells aged in the laboratory, and cells aged under real-world driving conditions, have been characterised applying second use stationary grid-scale duty cycles. An analysis of the resource efficiency of second-use application of Li-ion batteries from vehicles is presented. This includes an assessment of materials needs and a Material Flow Analysis to estimate the amount of available batteries entering the waste flow after their use in the automotive sector. An adapted life cycle based methodology is presented – taking in consideration experimental performance data – to produce a holistic analysis considering technical, environmental, economical perspective of the foreseen second-life system