Abstract
Abstract The reverse logistic challenge of transporting waste automotive lithium ion battery (LIB) packs is an escalating concern as the world-wide sale of electric vehicles (EVs) continues to rise. Under the European Union (EU) Battery Directive, EV manufacturers are classified as battery producers and are responsible for the collection, treatment and recycling of waste or damaged vehicle batteries. The European agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR) stipulates that damaged or defective LIB packs must be transported in approved explosion proof steel containers. This necessitates costly testing in order to meet ADR requirements. Furthermore, the extra size and weight of this packaging adds further prohibitive expense to the transportation of damaged or defective LIB. In this study, cryogenically frozen cells are shown to be unable to release any energy even in extreme abuse conditions. This is demonstrated on two different cell chemistries and form factors. Experiments have shown that the possibility of thermal runaway is completely removed and therefore it is argued that LIBs may be transported safely whilst cryogenically frozen. Moreover, flash freezing is shown to have little effect on the electrical performance (energy capacity and impedance) even after five repetitive cryogenic cycles. Thus, facilitating the potential reuse and remanufacture of individual LIB cells from a complete damaged pack, prolonging the useful life, reducing the consumption of raw materials, and improving environmental sustainability of EV introduction.
Highlights
The automotive industry’s pursuit to actively reduce its impact on the environment by shifting its dependence from the internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle to alternative sustainable technologies continues to gain momentum
When the experiment was performed at room temperature (Fig. 5(b)), the three DK5 Ah cells vented gas for a short time period before the heat generated within the cell melted the current collector
In comparison, when the experiment was performed at room temperature as per Fig. 6(b), all three DK5 Ah cells went into a thermal runaway condition
Summary
The automotive industry’s pursuit to actively reduce its impact on the environment by shifting its dependence from the internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle to alternative sustainable technologies continues to gain momentum This shift is occurring amidst an ever increasing framework of legislation to reduce carbon emissions, such as the EU 2020 targets [1] and growing concerns over local air pollution [2,3,4]. The adoption of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs) have the potential to yield considerable greenhouse gas emission reductions [6] These electric vehicles (EVs) typically contain lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) as the dominant technology due to their relatively high energy density, long life cycles, lack of memory effect, and slower self-discharge rates [7]. Bloomberg New Energy Finance annual long-term forecast estimates that 54% of new cars sold in 2040 will be EVs, underpinned by impending reductions in LIB prices [9]
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