The lifespan of electric vehicle batteries may be expanded beyond the vehicles themselves and into our homes.
The California Centre for Sustainable Energy is leading a research study into using electric vehicle batteries as household electric storage devices after receiving a grant for $992,000 from the University of California.
The grant was awarded by the Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Research Centre and is meant to tackle the problem of high cost batteries. Though plug-in and full-battery electric vehicles hold significant potential in terms of reducing petrol consumption and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions, the high cost of lithium-ion battery packs is a major barrier to widespread adoption.
It is hoped that this study can find viable uses for the batteries beyond their use in vehicles with Mike Ferry, the California Centre for Sustainable Energy’s programme manager, pointing out that even after the end of usable battery life in the vehicle the batteries still retain 70-80 per cent of their residual capacity. With a viable secondary market initial battery costs could be slashed and spread over their entire useful lifetime.
The study will now look into three different lithium battery types and determine if a specific battery chemistry or management system is superior for overall lifetime battery value.
