Second Life Batteries: Current Regulatory Framework, Evaluation Methods, and Economic Assessment: Reuse, refurbish, or recycle

Given the strong penetration of electric vehicles (EVs) and renewable energy sources, battery demand is dramatically increasing. To satisfy this huge request for batteries, a possible solution, taking into account a circular-economy framework, is given by second-life batteries (SLBs), a new technology that exploits deteriorated batteries from the EV sector for less demanding applications, such as stationary storage. On the one hand, SLBs make it possible to use batteries to their full extent. On the other hand, specific standards for SLBs are still missing and, from an industrial point of view, there are several factors that influence whether this business would be convenient or not. This article presents a possible lifecycle for EV batteries where SLBs are considered with different business strategies, also taking into account the possible SLB applications that can be derived from the reuse of batteries before being recycled. From an economic point of view, an economic assessment is introduced, providing possible parameters that may affect the SLB business either positively or negatively.