Our vision to 2nd hand batteries
History
Did you know that the first electric car was developed early in the nineteenth century. The Groningen professor Stratingh has produced an electric "car" already in 1835. It weighs only three kilos, can transport one and a half kilos and drives around twenty minutes. Electric transport "cars" came fifty years later. But a large part of these producers disappeared again with the arrival of the combustion engine.
With the advent of the lithium-ion battery in the early twenty-first century, the electric car came back alive.
We drive electric for a while now. And this means that lithium batteries also need to be replaced. And companies experiment with old, 2nd hand batteries that come from electric vehicles, busses and trucks to reduce the cost of battery storage.
Risk factors:
Batteries used in vehicles have a relatively easy life compared to batteries that are used in Energy Storage Systems.
In an ESS the full power can continue during a much longer period of time, both during charge and discharge, something needed for consistent action on the power exchange or secondary power applications. The number of cells needed for a 1MW system is very high and can run into the thousands. When new, each of these cells have undergone strict performance testing before being assembled into a battery pack.
For a large scale ESS, multiple packs need to be connected together whereby each pack should be within 1% of the specifications. Matching these cells and packs so they have equal performance requires extensive testing over the full spectrum of use.
Does this mean we can't use 2nd hand batteries?
No certainly not. Use of these batteries in smaller applications such as the electrification of small boats used for recreational purposes or home storage applications will give the new owner many years of good use. The frequency of use is limited and the charge and discharge profiles are much less aggressive, finding matching cells is easier due to the smaller numbers and therefore the feasibility of such application to become successful is much higher.
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