Feasibility assessment of remanufacturing, repurposing, and recycling of end of vehicle application lithium-ion batteries
Abstract: Lithium-ion
batteries that are commonly used in electric vehicles and plug-in electric
hybrid vehicles cannot be simply discarded at the end of vehicle application
due to the materials of which they are composed. In addition the US Department
of Energy has estimated that the cost per kWh of new lithium-ion batteries for
vehicle applications is four times too high, creating an economic barrier to
the widespread commercialization of plug-in electric vehicles. (USDOE 2014).
Thus, reducing this cost by extending the application life of these batteries
appears to be necessary. Even with an extension of application life, all
batteries will eventually fail to hold a charge and thus become unusable. Thus
environmentally safe disposition must be accomplished. Addressing these cost
and environmental issues can be accomplished by remanufacturing end of vehicle
life lithium ion batteries for return to vehicle applications as well as
repurposing them for stationary applications such as energy storage systems
supporting the electric grid. In addition, environmental safe, “green” disposal
processes are required that include disassembly of batteries into component
materials for recycling. The hypotheses that end of vehicle application
remanufacturing, repurposing, and recycling are each economic are examined.
This assessment includes a forecast of the number of such batteries to ensure
sufficient volume for conducting these activities.
Design/methodology/approach: The hypotheses that end of vehicle
application remanufacturing, repurposing, and recycling are economic are
addressed using cost-benefit analysis applied independently to each.
Uncertainty is associated with all future costs and benefits. Data from a variety
of sources are combined and reasonable assumptions are made. The robustness of
the results is confirmed by sensitivity analysis regarding each key parameter.
Determining that a sufficient volume of end of vehicle application lithium-ion
batteries will exist to support remanufacturing, repurposing, and recycling
involves estimating a lower bound for the number of such batteries. Based on a
variety of forecasts for electric vehicle and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle
production, a distribution of life for use in a vehicle, and the percent
recoverable for further use, three projections of the number of end of vehicle
applications batteries for the time period 2010 to 2050 are developed. The
lower bound is then the minimum of these three forecasts. Multiple forecasts
based on multiple sources of information are used to help reduce uncertainty
associated with finding the lower bound, which is particularly important given
the short time such vehicles have been in use.
Findings: The number of lithium-ion batteries becoming available annually
for remanufacturing, recycling and repurposing is likely to exceed 3,000,000
between 2029 and 2032 as well as reaching 50% of new vehicle demand between
2020 and 2033. Thus, a sufficient number of batteries will be available. Cost
benefit analysis shows that remanufacturing is economically feasible, saving
approximately 40% over new battery use. Repurposing is likewise economically
feasible if research and development costs for new applications are less than
$82.65 per kWh for upper bound sales price of $150.00 per kWh. For a lower
bound in R&D expenses of $50 per kWh, the lowest economic sales price is
$114.05 per kWh. Recycling becomes economically feasible only if the price of
lithium salts increases to $98.60 per kg due to a shortage of new lithium,
which is possible but perhaps not likely, with increasing demand for
lithium-ion batteries.
Research limitations/implications: The demand for lithium-ion batteries
for vehicle applications through 2050 has a high degree of uncertainty.
Repurposing applications are currently not fully developed and recycling
processes are still evolving. There is a high degree of uncertainty associated
with the cost-benefit analysis.
Practical implications: Lithium-ion batteries are a major cost component
of an electric vehicle and a plug-in electric hybrid vehicle. One way of
reducing this cost is to develop additional uses for such batteries at the end
of vehicle application as well as an environmentally friendly method for
recycling battery components as an alternative to destruction and disposal.
Social implications: The use of lithium-ion batteries in vehicles as
opposed to fossil fuels is consistent with the guiding principles of
sustainability in helping to meet current needs without compromising the needs
and resources of future generations. Reusing entire lithium-ion batteries or
recycling the materials of which they are composed further reinforces the
sustainability of the use of lithium-ion batteries.
Originality/value: The results show that a sufficient number of batteries
to support remanufacturing, repurposing, and recycling will be available.
Remanufacturing is shown to be economically feasible. Repurposing is shown to
be feasible under reasonable conditions on design and development. Recycling
will likely not be economically feasible in isolation but will eventually be
necessary for all batteries. Thus, the costs of recycling must be assigned to
original vehicle use, remanufacturing and repurposing applications Furthermore,
this effort integrates information from a wide variety of sources to show the
economic feasibility of end of vehicle application uses for lithium-ion
batteries.
Author: Meaghan Foster, Paul
Isely, Charles Robert Standridge, Md Mehedi Hasan
Journal Code: jptindustrigg140039
