Towards a business model for second-life batteries – barriers, opportunities, uncertainties, and technologies

Electric vehicles (EVs) and the recent pandemic outbreak give cities a new trend to primarily private and shared mobility with low noise and less air pollution. Crucial factors for the widespread of EVs are the electrical charging infrastructure, driving range, and the reduction of the cost of battery packets. For this reason, there is a massive effort from manufacturers, governments, and the scientific community to reduce battery costs and boost sustainable electrical production and distribution. Battery reuse is an alternative to reduce batteries’ costs and environmental impacts. Second-life batteries can be used in a wide variety of secondary applications. Second-life batteries can be connected with off-grid or on-grid photovoltaic and wind systems, vehicle charging stations, forklifts, and frequency control. The present work aims to analyze the main challenges imposed on the reuse of batteries, the leading technologies for their reuse, and the different types of batteries in terms of their feasibility for second-life use. The main novelty of this work is the discussion about the barriers, opportunities, uncertainties, and technologies for the second life market. Here we summarize the present state of the art in reusing lithium-ion batteries discussing technical and economic feasibility, environmental impacts, and perspectives. The results show five business models that have been proposed in the literature, three types of markets for trading second-life batteries, and the main opportunities and barriers for each actor in the battery supply chain.