Post-Vehicle Use Of EV Batteries Explored

As automakers continue electrifying their vehicle fleets, one West Michigan company has already started identifying uses for lithium-ion batteries after they’re no longer suitable for automotive applications. Global Battery Solutions LLC (GBS), a Holland-based sister organization of Sybesma’s Electronics Inc., plans to grow its operations by integrating post-automotive lithium-ion batteries into new applications.

The number of available post-vehicle lithium-ion batteries is expected to reach approximately 6.7 million by 2035, according to a report last year conducted by the Mineta National Transit Research Consortium and Grand Valley State University. The pending influx of used lithium-ion batteries that are past their useful automotive life has prompted companies like Global Battery Solutions to develop methods and applications to repurpose and reuse those components.

Global Battery Solutions is currently in talks with state officials in New York to service lithium-ion batteries previously used in bus fleets from various municipalities around the state. The company plans to repurpose the batteries for use in the state’s power grid to avoid brownouts during peak power usage.

The company has already integrated post-automotive lithium-ion batteries into equipment such as forklifts, golf carts, and handheld power tools.

Despite being categorized as repurposed, post-vehicle application lithium-ion batteries still have plenty of capacity and life left — just not enough to meet automakers’ extremely high standards.

Since the cost of repurposed lithium-ion batteries is roughly a third of what the technology sells for new, the batteries should become popular among entrepreneurs as well as homeowners who may use them as an energy storage option.

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