EV Battery Reuse: An Analysis for using endof-life electric vehicle batteries for energy storage

British Columbia currently has the highest per-capita uptake of electric vehicles in North America, and as British Columbians continue to purchase EVs in the coming decades, there will be an exponential increase in the number of EV batteries that will need retirement from vehicular use. The current status quo approach for EV batteries that are no longer fit for vehicular use is recycling to retain valuable metals but giving these batteries a second life as stationary energy storage for intermittent renewable energy sources prior to recycling better aligns with BC’s goals for increased electrification. Second-life batteries are cheaper than brand-new batteries and offer renewable energy projects a road to profitability while also solving problems of intermittency associated with energy generation from wind or solar projects. Brand-new lithium-ion batteries for grid-scale energy storage are expensive, and the cost of this storage often ends up being the key hang-up for greenlighting intermittent renewable energy projects like solar or wind farms. Without available storage, intermittent renewable energy projects could be passed up in favour of more reliable forms of energy, even if they are more polluting. Access to inexpensive and reliable storage could lead to increased diversification in clean energy in BC, and as BC will have access to a surplus of used electric vehicle batteries in the coming decades, exploring EV battery reuse policy cannot be ignored. This paper will demonstrate that with proper screening, pricing, and charging policy, second life EV batteries provide policymakers and energy producers access to profitability in a wide range of new and needed energy projects.