The gist is one of the biggest plus when it comes to electric cars, EV is the fact that once the battery is no longer fit to give you the range you need, you can use it as a local electricity storage.
Nissan, ABB, Sumitomo Corp. of America and 4R Energy Corporation have teamed to test used lithium-ion electric-vehicle battery packs for energy storage which utility companies and community power sources could buy back from consumers. ABB is the world's biggest maker of power-transmission equipment and has a lot to gain from a strategic partnership.
Technically Speaking. The group is focusing on the development of a 50-kWh battery-storage prototype that should be able to power 15 homes for about two hours. The trick is to find EV battery packs that have lasted about 10 years and use them as storage. As a side note, lithium-ion battery packs retain as much as 70 percent of their energy-storage capacity after 10 years of regular use in an EV. This makes those battery packs inefficient for driving but perfect for storage.
The Secondary Battery Market. The secondary battery market is a potential lucrative segment that adds to the appeal of EVs. With an estimated $2 billion worth of lithium-ion batteries, according to Frost & Sullivan, this market could recover much of its initial cost, albeit by 2022. These used battery packs can be used to prevent blackouts with temporary power, or act as buffer, even come in handy during peak demand on the grid.
We will see a secondary battery market develop as utilities and car maker work toward finding a second life for EV battery pack. And after that second life, we will just recycle them. What say you naysayers no?
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