Environmental-economic analysis of the secondary use of electric vehicle batteries in the load shifting of communication base stations: A case study in China

Abstract

Frequent electricity shortages undermine economic activities and social well-being, thus the development of sustainable energy storage systems (ESSs) becomes a center of attention. This study examines the environmental and economic feasibility of using repurposed spent electric vehicle (EV) lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) in the ESS of communication base stations (CBS) for load shifting. Methodologically, life cycle assessment (LCA) and net present value (NPV) are used to evaluate the environmental and economic performance of such system, respectively. Comparing with the conventional system without load shifting and the use of new LIBs in CBS, our analysis indicates that the proposed system is economically appealing, saving 17.6 % of life cycle cost. Nonetheless, the environmental performance of our system is almost identical to the conventional one, due to the relatively low round-trip efficiency of spent EV LIBs. Sensitivity analysis suggests that the differences of peak and valley electricity prices determine the economic potential of this system, and cleaner energy sources such as nuclear power could largely improve its overall environmental performance. By highlighting the importance of improving round-trip efficiency and using clean energy resources, our work offers implications for stakeholders like policymakers and researchers.