Quality assessment of electric vehicle Li-ion batteries for second use applications

With the rise of electric vehicles (EVs) on Europe’s roads, there will be a growing need to repurpose the Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries powering them. Li-ion batteries lose their capacity with increasing age and use, eventually reaching a point when they are no longer suitable for EVs. Most could be salvaged as ‘second use’ batteries for less demanding applications such as electricity grid reserve power. However, this requires accurate measurement of their residual capacity and current methods are too slow or too imprecise to be economically viable.

This project will address the speed and reliability of the Li-ion battery characterisation by establishing a process for determining residual capacity, using impedance. As impedance can be measured rapidly and provides information about the internal condition of a battery, the feasibility of its use to predict sudden premature death of Li-ion batteries will also be explored. This will pave the way for a vibrant second use battery market, contributing towards Europe’s renewable energy and climate change goals.