Lithium-ion Batteries Could See Second Life as Electric Utility Tool

Researchers at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory have found that using a plug-in electric vehicle’s lithium-ion battery can help improve utility grid stability, according to a press release by the National Renewal Energy Laboratory.

by Staff

August 17, 2015

1 min to read

Researchers at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory have found that using a plug-in electric vehicle’s lithium-ion battery can help improve utility grid stability.

This form of energy storage could be used to increase the availability of peak-period electricity and store energy during periods of low demand, according to the NREL.

The researchers found that a plug-in electric vehicle’s lithium-ion battery retains about 70% of its initial capacity after its 15-year service life, making it a suitable energy storage option for electric utilities. Using it as energy storage would extend that service life 10 more years with a daily 50% depth of discharge duty cycle using NREL's battery degradation life model.

Analysis from the NREL shows that the cost of retrofitting a battery into storage could cost as little as $500.

Topics:Vehicle-to-Grid Technology Lithium-Ion Batteries Battery-Electric Vehicles electric grid Utility Fleet

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