The amount of used mobility batteries is expected to rise sharply in the coming years, due to the strong growth in electric mobility in both the light and heavy mobility sectors.
Mobility batteries at the end of their life, after 10 to 15 years of use, can no longer be used for mobility because of a loss of electrical capacity that reduces their range. However, they still have significant residual capacity, enabling them to be prepared for a second life, for the same or a different use.
The second life sector is still in the process of being structured in Europe. It does not yet benefit from a suitable regulatory framework. However, a multitude of second life initiatives have been identified in Europe, with varying degrees of technical and commercial maturity, from the R&D stage to the demonstrator stage, and some initiatives have even been offering commercial products for several years.
The aim of the study is to take stock of initiatives for the second life lithium-ion batteries for electric mobility (light mobility and hybrid and electric vehicles) in Europe and to provide a vision of the outlook for the second life of batteries in Europe.
The study ran from March 2022 to April 2023.
The methodology is summarised in the work plan diagram below.
Regulatory context
Current situation
Directive 2006/66/EC on batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators, commonly known as the Battery Directive, sets out the regulatory framework applicable in Europe to the management of end-of-life electric mobility batteries. Electric mobility batteries are considered to be industrial batteries and are not covered by the take-back obligations or the separate collection target. Marketers are required not to refuse to take back waste industrial batteries and accumulators from end users.
Furthermore, the current Directive does not consider the second life of batteries as a treatment operation and is clearly oriented towards recycling. The waste status, responsibilities and safety requirements for second-life batteries are not clarified. There is a wide range of European and international regulations and standards controlling the performance and safety of new batteries and accumulators for various applications. However, none of them so far includes specific procedures for the second life of batteries.
Outlook
On 10 December 2020, a proposal for a European Batteries Regulation was tabled by the European Commission and on 9 December 2022, the Council and Parliament adopted a provisional agreement on a draft text1.
Batteries that are reused in accordance with the definition in the Waste Framework Directive will not be subject to the second life obligations under the draft Regulation. The European Commission has clarified that the use of mobility batteries for stationary storage purposes does not fall within this framework, as the uses are not identical.
A legal framework has been created for the second life. 4 different statutes are created:
- For used batteries that do not have waste status:
- Remanufacturing (similar capacity, identical use or application)
- Reallocation (different use)
- For used batteries that do have waste status:
- Preparation for re-use (identical use or application)
- Preparing for reassignment (different use)
All categories of batteries will be subject to extended producer responsibility (EPR), and no longer just to obligations to set up a free take-back system. The original producer will not have to bear the costs of the end of the second life. The costs and revenues of preparing for the second life will be taken into account if the battery becomes waste, in the same way as the costs and revenues of recycling.
In practice, existing standards are not adapted to second life in terms of the sampling process and the amount of destructive testing to be carried out. More appropriate standards, based on the same tests, will have to be developed. Work is underway by the International Committee for Electrochemistry to develop international standards specific to the second life.
It will be compulsory for marketers to make information available to battery users and second life operators, in particular to determine the state of health of a battery (SoH) and the remaining life of batteries.
Battery quantities and second life potential
Managing mobility batteries in France
Collection
There is currently no approved eco-organisation in France for mobility batteries.
For light mobility, there are voluntary, non-approved collective channels for the batteries of electrically assisted bicycles (EABs) and personal motorised mobility devices (PMMDs), set up by the two eco-organisations in charge of the portable sector, COREPILE and SCRELEC.
For heavy mobility, carmakers and importers, who market batteries for electric vehicles, currently manage batteries as individual systems, as they do for the entire ELV sector.
Second life
All light mobility batteries collected by COREPILE and SCRELEC are sent for recycling, but reuse projects are underway. The only French second life initiatives that have been identified (e.g. DOCTIBIKE, VIRVOLT, NOWOS) involve batteries from users wishing to repair or recondition them.
For heavy mobility, there are three main models at the pilot or demonstrator stage in France:
- Re-manufacturing,
- Repair and return,
- Repurposing.
Second life potential
The supply of second life batteries from mobility could reach 4.5 to 5 million kWh in France and 31 to 37 million kWh based on the remaining capacity by 2040.
By 2040, France will have around 45,000 tonnes of second life batteries, and Europe will have around 300-350,000 tonnes.
Overview of second life initiatives
87 second life initiatives for lithium-ion mobility batteries were identified and analysed on the basis of literature and public data. A full description of the findings is provided in the full report.
Most of the projects concern batteries for heavy mobility (60), while the few projects linked to the second life of light mobility (20) are generally smaller-scale projects, either run by specialist start-ups or by organisations that integrate this service into a broader commercial offering such as the repair or sale of batteries and/or of light mobility vehicles.
The target applications for the second life are mainly in mobility for batteries used in light mobility (13 out of 20 initiatives), and mainly in stationary energy storage for batteries used in heavy mobility (47 out of 60 initiatives).
Cross-sectional analysis of in-depth initiatives
5 second life initiatives were studied in greater depth through discussions with the project leaders:
- Kyburz: a Swiss manufacturer of 2, 3, and 4-wheel electric vehicles founded in 1991. Since 2015, the company has been developing a concept that aims to reuse and recycle vehicles and the batteries used in them.
- Connected Energy: a UK company designing ESS (Energy Storage Systems) from second life batteries founded in 2013. The company offers a high-capacity E-STOR storage system that has already been installed in a number of facilities in Europe and is suitable for industrial use.
- Watt4Ever: a Belgian company designing ESS from second life batteries. The company was founded by a consortium including FEBELAUTO (eco-organisation). The company designs, sells and maintains the systems it sells.
- Entech: a French ESS design company. The company designs ESS based on second life batteries from electric vehicles.
- xStorage: the result of a partnership between Eaton and Nissan that began in 2013. The project led to the creation of a commercial offering in France in 2016: the sale of stationary energy storage systems designed using new or used Nissan Leaf batteries.
Reuse criteria
The main criteria for reuse are as follows:
- The existence of an agreement with the marketer,
- The existence of a sufficient supply of batteries of the same type,
- No signs of external impact or damage,
- Performance tests to achieve a remaining capacity of over 65%.
Scale of intervention
The players interviewed chose to work on batteries at different scales (pack/module/cell).
Security
Monitoring in operation
During operation, the system is monitored by:
- Real-time measurement of various parameters: SoH, load level, voltage, current via various sensors and the BMS (Battery Management System),
- The modules are managed by a BMS, which may be the original BMS in the pack or a new BMS adapted for use with an ESS,
- An electronic control or monitoring system is also usually added to optimise the use of the batteries according to the application and their SoH,
- An additional BMS can also be used to manage the entire system.
Security
At present, in the various cases studied, safety during use is guaranteed by measurements and checks during operation.
The various companies interviewed take the risk of fire into account by identifying the risks upstream, measuring the effects in the event of overheating, or defining safe ranges of use.
Regulatory aspects
Regulations are not seen as a hindrance to the initiatives we interviewed. It should be noted that this is an area of relatively little expertise for the people we interviewed.
Economic maturity of initiatives
No project wished to communicate its current profitability in terms of second life. It is therefore not possible to draw any definite conclusions about the economic maturity of these initiatives.
The Kyburz, Connected Energy and Eaton initiatives are relatively more mature. Their relative maturity is explained in particular by their access to a large and stable resource. They have been providing a commercial offering for several years and are mainly financed by private funds. These are indicators of economic viability, without however providing any certainty on this point.
The Entech and Watt4Ever initiatives are relatively less mature. This is reflected in the relative youth of their business models and the lack of long-term partnerships, which makes it more difficult for these initiatives to access a large and stable pool of used batteries. This is part of the development outlook.
Environmental relevance of the second life
A significant proportion of batteries can be reused rather than recycled, thereby extending their lifetime and generating environmental benefits linked to production and end-of-life. However, the second life generates additional impacts during the preparation and use phases. No life cycle analysis studies have been identified to compare the environmental impacts of a second life and recycling. However, some qualitative elements and quantitative data are compiled in the report to give an idea of the environmental benefits of a second life.
To estimate the environmental benefit of the second life, we need to compare the second life with the "first use" of a battery in the second application. If a battery is used for application A and reused for application B, in both cases there will be the first use A and an end-of-life. The issue therefore relates solely to application B.
Some data has been compiled to measure the impact of these different elements. The "climate change" environmental impact indicator has been used for comparison, as the environmental issues are essentially energy issues for battery production and recycling. The "mineral resources" issue is also particularly relevant but has not been analysed in this report..
The exercise leads to the conclusion that the environmental benefit of second life is not certain and depends on:
- Additional energy losses per cycle due to the age of the battery,
- The possible addition of extra converters for the second life system, which can significantly penalise results of the second life.
The conclusions must be nuanced depending of the assumptions made, which should be discussed in greater detail as part of a full environmental assessment using an LCA.
Business model of the second life
To analyse the economic relevance of a second life in the medium and long term, it is necessary to look at costs throughout the value chain. The prices currently observed between players are not good indicators, because they reflect the balance between players at a given time, a balance that may change depending on the bargaining power of the different players. In other words, if a first life system is intrinsically more expensive than a system that includes a second life, one or more of the players will observe lower prices for the second life and will be encouraged to implement it.
It is not possible to reach a general conclusion (i.e. true for all cases) on the economic relevance of the second life because:
- there are both favourable and unfavourable configurations,
- the assumptions made are uncertain, and
- the players interviewed shared little economic information.
The economic viability of second life must be analysed on a case-by-case basis, depending on the characteristics of each project.
Extending battery life will be all the more relevant from an economic point of view if: the cost of new batteries is high, the cost of recycling is high, the cost of preparing batteries for a second life is low, and the opportunity cost of additional energy consumption due to cycle losses is low.
Outlook
Contradictory trends can be observed regarding the competitiveness of systems integrating a first life and then a second life (e.g. in the medium term, the production costs of virgin batteries should decrease or the additional costs of the second life linked to testing should decrease if access to the BMS, standardisation of batteries, and automation increases).
It is the dynamics of these cost reductions that will determine the economic viability of a second life. The scale of the projected decrease in the cost of new batteries (€54-69/kWh in 2040) is rather unfavourable to the competitiveness of second life in the long term, as it cannot be offset by the decrease in the identified costs of preparing batteries for second life. For second life to be favourable in this context, there would need to be a reduction in the costs of preparing materials for second life, an increase in recycling costs and good control of energy losses.
Lastly, the environmental benefits of the second life are currently rarely internalised in the costs. Internalising the environmental benefits of second life in the economic model would help to improve the economic results of the second life.
Obstacles and levers to a second life
The table below lists the obstacles and levers to a second life.
Table 1: Mapping of obstacles and levers to a second life (RECORD, 2023)
