Optimal usage of EV batteries –  V2X and second life of batteries : From a circular economy perspective

Abstract: The increased number of electric vehicles (EV) will influence the electricity demand and could possibly exceed the maximum power available on the grid. In order to manage such development, new innovations and impactful policy mechanisms are crucial.  EV fleets are prospected to work as dynamic energy storage systems and if controlled smartly, it could result in energy savings and revenue streams. The EV could, be charged when electricity prices are low and discharged when high. Thus, discharged power could be sold to the grid or supplied to a building. This could then generate revenue streams and enhance self-consumption through services called vehicle-to-grid (V2G) and vehicle-to-building (V2B). Despite the advantages of V2X (vehicle-to-anything), premature battery degradation due to capacity loss as a consequence of charging and discharging processes is a prominent concern since the battery is unfit for EV when it reaches 80 percent of the initial capacity. This could be managed by providing the battery a second life as storage solution and thus enhance the feasibility, and lifetime for EV batteries thereby contributing to circular economy.  Previous studies have investigated the possibility of EV as energy vectors and optimizing the charging and discharging schedules for demand supply management, for example in peak shredding or shifting. This study aims to combine the mechanism of V2B and V2G and further providing the EV battery a second life in residential PV storage to optimize the usage through the battery’s lifetime in a circular perspective. Hence, for this thesis, a mixed integer linear problem (MILP) was developed to optimize the potential, savings and earnings from V2B/V2G as well as from second-life energy storage in residential PV. For this purpose, a case study with real data from a residential building with a build-in PV from 2018 in Switzerland was integrated. Further, the impact of the batteries in the two stages and the contribution towards a circular economy was investigated.  Results show that the battery lifetime from exercising V2G/V2B could at its worst last for 3.11 years. This is however strongly impacted from input data, degradation and selling price of electricity. During its lifetime, the EV battery could avoid 26% of cost compared with not using V2X. Overall, V2B/V2G leads to energy and economic savings, but there is degradation in the battery and the savings made by V2B/V2G is not enough to justify the investment costs of an EV battery. Hence, the cost of replacing the battery in the EV due to the degradation of V2B/V2G needs to be subsidized or by other incentives for it to become feasible. When further providing the battery a second life, it shows huge potential in savings as observed from the result which contributes to resource efficiency and circular economy. In this study, the reused battery could last for either 2.4 or 9.45 years, depending on the electricity selling price. Thus, the lifetime usage of the battery can be increased substantially with second life of batteries depending on the application.