Exploring Second Life Applications for Electric Vehicle Batteries

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to explore an economically viable second life applications for electric vehicles (EV) batteries. There is a common consensus in the automotive industry that the reuse of retired EV batteries—often referred as a second life of a battery—can provide greater economic and sustainability benefits. Although literature acknowledged potential business opportunities with batteries’ second life, there are still a lot of uncertainties, making success difficult to realize. In particular, identification of a profitable second life application with a right business model in the battery value chain has become a key success factor. Therefore, a case study, with a mixed research approach, considering both qualitative and quantitative methods, has been conducted in a company that is one of the leading manufacturers in the heavy-duty industrial vehicle industry, which currently is developing their electric vehicle machines with a li-ion battery pack. The study generated and analyzed several different second life concepts to find the most economically viable second life applications. The analysis concluded three second life business concepts in the initial phase. In the later phases, individual business model canvases and different reverse logistics processes were created, mapped, compared, and validated through quantitative analysis. The analysis show that out of three concepts remanufacturing application proved to be the most applicable one for the case company, within a range of 15 years’ time. The paper contributes to the theory of circular business models in the context of EV batteries.