Recycling Lithium Ion Batteries, An Emerging Market

[luthj]

An interesting read about the economic opportunities recycling/reusing end of life EV batteries. Apparently one of the big markets is grid storage (and semi-off grid/backup). Not so much in the USA, but in developing countries where reliable grid power is not available, but the low cost of solar is changing the game for local micro-grids. Given that many of these batteries will last a decade or more (and still have 50% or more capacity), there is significant second life for them in other applications where power density is not critical. This definitely goes a long way to mitigate the rare earth availability concerns for these early packs, as development continues on low or no rare earth variants (cobalt free for example).

A Recycling Renegade Is Out of Prison—and Ready to Tackle the Electric Vehicle Battery Crisis

In a warehouse in Chatsworth, California, rows upon rows of giant wooden crates are stacked forty feet high, in a scene somewhat reminiscent of the secret

gizmodo.com

 

[luthj]

Unrelated, but the comment section of those gizmodo articles has some great satire.

 

[DaveInDenver]

I think this is better called reuse rather than recycling. He's certainly identified a niche to disassemble batteries and reuse the cells that are still viable. But actually recycling lithium is still a tiny part of the overall mineral use. There's a single recycler in Canada who's been around for a couple of decades and another just started a couple of years ago in, I think, Ohio. But there's almost exclusively still newly mined lithium in actual use and will be for some time because it's a difficult process and the real value is the other components such as rare earths instead of the lithium.

This is, BTW, unlike lead chemistry which uses more recycled than new lead. I'd wager that about the only really major user of newly mined lead for batteries is the military since that is a contractual requirement AFAIK. I think it's somewhat ironic that the humble lead-acid battery is really the more green technology from a resource standpoint. It's of course less ideal in application due to weight and various other limitations.

 

[LRNAD90]

Interesting story, thanks for sharing. In the end I am still left to wonder whether the electric car really has less impact on the environment in the end, particularly when most of the electricity to charge them is still generated by burning fossil fuels. But even if we can get away from that, I still wonder..

 

[luthj]

If lead had a higher total coulombic efficiency it would make a lot of sense for grid storage.

I was reading a white paper on iron redox flow batteries the other day. Their energy density is similar to lead, but they have much higher overall efficiency. The cost is really low, as they simply need tanks of each agent, pumps to move it, and an ion exchange membrane. If they can work out the kinks, it has promise to yield gigawatt scale grid storage at prices much lower than lithium ion.


As far as total carbon emissions and resource usage, there are some good reads. Battery electric vehicles are improving, and typically beat out ICE vehicles by a good margin, even more so with a high renewables mix in the grid.

https://www.adlittle.de/sites/default/files/viewpoints/ADL_BEVs_vs_ICEVs_FINAL_November_292016.pdf

 

[DaveInDenver]

Interesting story, thanks for sharing. In the end I am still left to wonder whether the electric car really has less impact on the environment in the end, particularly when most of the electricity to charge them is still generated by burning fossil fuels. But even if we can get away from that, I still wonder..

I think for the majority of uses an EV is going to be better than an ICE vehicle. Even if 100% of the energy came from coal the overall efficiency is better. A power plant is always running at peak efficiency and extracting the most energy at the least practical emission from fuel while your car rarely is. Transporting electricity is cheaper than ships, trucks and trains of liquid fuel. Coal and natural gas for the power plants has to be moved around, but there again a single coal train moves more energy at lower cost than an equivalent number of tanker trucks.

But of course an EV isn't really clean. It relies heavily on mining and extractive processes so the improvement is more marginal. After all lithium is extracted generally in open pit mines that are scars, too.



The worst thing we can do is scrap an perfectly fine gasoline car for a brand new EV, the resources and energy required to manufacture a new car far outweighs the lifecycle benefit. So use a car until it's no longer practical then replace it.

 

[luthj]

Indeed, the rare earth metals are the biggest contributor, and most MFGs are looking to reduce the amount of rare earths to zero if possible. It appears to be a solvable problem.

We are on the cusp of a rapid adoption of lithium batteries. My hope is that the re-use an repurposing of those batteries gains even more traction in industry. Given the value of the batteries, I think that is a safe assumption. In 5-10 years we may need mandated recycling standards for the cells. We will see though.

 

[1leglance]

I like the fact that BigBattery is making camping power packs out of some of these, that is a great reuse of EV batteries.

 

[F350joe]

‘“ Used in electric vehicles and operated at temperatures controlled to 20C, the new battery cells are expected to retain 95% fractional capacity after the million-mile mark is reached. Battery cells used for energy storage, on the other hand, are expected to retain 90% fractional capacity after over 20 years of service. Commenting on Dahn’s research, Desktop Metal CEO Ric Fulop stated that the second life of these improved battery packs have the potential to change the very nature of the grid in the future”

Tesla researcher's 1 million-mile battery cell breakthrough secures the Semi's longevity

Tesla lead battery researcher Jeff Dahn and members of the Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science in Dalhousie University recently released a new paper that points to the development of battery cells capable of lasting over 1 million miles on the road, or 20 years if utilized in grid...

www.teslarati.com

 

[shade]

An interesting read about the economic opportunities recycling/reusing end of life EV batteries. Apparently one of the big markets is grid storage (and semi-off grid/backup). Not so much in the USA, but in developing countries where reliable grid power is not available, but the low cost of solar is changing the game for local micro-grids. Given that many of these batteries will last a decade or more (and still have 50% or more capacity), there is significant second life for them in other applications where power density is not critical. This definitely goes a long way to mitigate the rare earth availability concerns for these early packs, as development continues on low or no rare earth variants (cobalt free for example).

A Recycling Renegade Is Out of Prison—and Ready to Tackle the Electric Vehicle Battery Crisis

In a warehouse in Chatsworth, California, rows upon rows of giant wooden crates are stacked forty feet high, in a scene somewhat reminiscent of the secret

gizmodo.com

That guy may want to change his look unless he's going for the Fast Freddy the Ex-Con vibe.

I won't be surprised when government mandates are introduced to make automotive battery end-of-life issues the responsibility of OEMs.

 

[javajoe79]

I've got a slightly less than optimal Tesla pack from a model S. I am going to use it as house power in my camper. It weighs roughly 50lbs and will have as much amp hours as something like 6, golf cart batteries.

 

[Lovetheworld]

Yes, these batteries are very nice for a second use. Still quite pricey when they are only a few years old and coming from a crashed EV.
I wonder what pricing will be when there are lots of battery packs 10 years or older, lost some capacity, but still functioning fine. Should become cheap.

I already converted an electric seated scooter with cells from a Mitsubishi.

@javajoe79 Yes a Tesla Model S model is a nice 24V module (ok slightly less)
Run it with some Victron stuff or other, where you can limit the max voltage and minimum voltage on the module.

However, what is very important, is that you monitor and balance all the cells. And in case of the Tesla module, there are 6 cells in series.
There is a small integrated computer unit that can do that for you, but you have to tell it too.
If you are only using plus and minus connection (withing spec) it will fail at some point. With quite some risks!

 

[javajoe79]

Yes, these batteries are very nice for a second use. Still quite pricey when they are only a few years old and coming from a crashed EV.
I wonder what pricing will be when there are lots of battery packs 10 years or older, lost some capacity, but still functioning fine. Should become cheap.

I already converted an electric seated scooter with cells from a Mitsubishi.

@javajoe79 Yes a Tesla Model S model is a nice 24V module (ok slightly less)
Run it with some Victron stuff or other, where you can limit the max voltage and minimum voltage on the module.

However, what is very important, is that you monitor and balance all the cells. And in case of the Tesla module, there are 6 cells in series.
There is a small integrated computer unit that can do that for you, but you have to tell it too.
If you are only using plus and minus connection (withing spec) it will fail at some point. With quite some risks!

Yup I'm aware. I have the "bad" module because I'm building an electric 76 911 Targa for a customer. The guy he bought the batteries from gave it to us to use for mockup. We're running Zero EV controllers and other hardware along with an Orion BMS to look after the batteries. Most of the fab work is done and I am assembling the battery boxes currently.

Here are the most recent pics of the assembly of the rear battery box

 

[luthj]

Cool, whats the pack capacity? Motor? That really deserves its own build thread...

 

[javajoe79]

It’s a tesla model s drive and 14 total battery packs so around 340 volts. Check out my shop Facebook page for more pics of the build.