Afterlife for Car Batteries

By the year 2020, it’s estimated that there will be about one million used batteries from electric vehicles coming available for secondary use every year. And while these batteries are no longer within spec for keeping a car running on the road, they may have up to 80 percent of their capacity left. So, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are looking at ways to squeeze a little more life out of them before they’re recycled.

Working in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), General Motors (GM) and ABB Group, they’ve designed a new platform that utilizes old lithium ion batteries to provide back-up energy to businesses and homes. The system, which is made up of five Chevrolet Volt batteries, can provide 25 kilowatts of power and 50 kilowatt-hours of energy. The group has also demonstrated that a similar battery pack can store electrical power and feed it back to the grid. The platform would not only reduce energy costs, but allow for increased grid stability and reliability.