A sustainable framework for the second-life battery ecosystem based on blockchain

Abstract

Second-Life Batteries (SLBs) have come to the spotlight in response to the surge of retired batteries from the expanding Electric Vehicle (EV) industry. However, this seemingly attractive SLB market development is far behind the rapidly accumulated retired batteries due to the lack of accurate pricing information, successful business models, data transparency, and unclear government policies. To mitigate these challenges, we first construct a pricing model to enable the prediction of SLB prices. Our results anticipate roughly 403 GWh, 379 GWh, and 195 GWh of retired batteries for second-life usage in China, Europe, and the United States, with the SLB price below 50 $/kWh in these countries/regions under the base scenario in 2030. Second, we develop a sustainable framework for the SLB ecosystem based on blockchain, which has a physical layer covering all the stakeholders along its value chain and a digital layer backed up by blockchain to record and store all relevant data generated through the process. The knowledge of the predicted SLB prices can facilitate the investors and consumers, who are the core components of the SLB ecosystem’s physical layer, in the decision-making process of investing and implementing SLBs. In return, the market information provided by such a digital layer plays an essential role in SLB pricing. Finally, a sustainability impact analysis is undertaken to validate the framework’s competitiveness in surviving a sustainable future. Our framework’s convergence of digitalization and sustainability enables the SLB industry to create long-lasting positive impacts.