3 Mln EV Batteries Need New Home

[Marina Schwarz + 1,576]

"Finding ways to reuse the technology is becoming more urgent as the global stockpile of EV batteries is forecast to exceed the equivalent of about 3.4 million packs by 2025, compared with about 55,000 this year, according to calculations based on Bloomberg NEF data.

China, where about half the world’s EVs are sold, is implementing rules in August to make carmakers responsible for expired batteries and to keep them out of landfills. The European Union has regulations, and the industry expects the U.S. to follow."

And there will be loads more batteries coming... A disaster waiting to happen or new business opportunity?

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

Can the materials in the EV batteries be recycled?  Or are the old EV batteries going to toxic up the joint, especially when they corrode and start leaking?

The hype about EVs being "green" is mostly nonsense, near as I can tell.  Advertising hokum and pablum.

[NickW + 2,714]

The first line of the article linked states exactly what will happen to redundant EV batteries. They will get a second life as stationary storage as the vast majority are not faulty, they have simply lost part of their storage capacity but are still quite functional as stationary storage. These 'redundant batteries' should have a good resale value - how much do you pay for one of Musks Power walls?

At a domestic level

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-25/used-electric-car-batteries-will-get-second-life-as-home-storage

At a utility level

http://www.pveurope.eu/News/Energy-Storage/Energy-storage-10-GWh-used-EV-batteries-by-2025-for-second-life-stationary-storage

Anecdote - a friend of mine has a Nissan leaf and when the 24 kwh battery is down to about 16kwh he will have it replaced and keep as storage. In summer it will store surplus solar and winter he will buy up cheap off peak night time electricity to use in the day.

Several former colleagues who live in Darwin are putting in solar (despite being O&G men) and batteries as power cuts are frequent as the city pretty much relies now on one 600km pipeline. 12 Kwh stored is enough to keep one 1kw HVAC unit going for half a day.

By the time these 2nd life batteries have truly reached the end of their life their should be enough to start up recycling facilities with sufficient economy of scale to make it worth while. Contrary to false claims they are recyclable however the supply is too small at present to make this an economically viable operation.