Second-Life Batteries

Dear Colleagues,

Electrochemical energy storage is a key element of systems in a wide range of sectors such as electro-mobility, portable devices and renewable energy. Lithium-ion batteries are presently the dominant technology in applications such as portable electronic devices, hand-held power tools and electric and hybrid vehicles. Performance improvement and manufacturing cost reduction over the past years have allowed a large deployment of this technology.

For this reason, a huge quantity of lithium-ion batteries have reached or will reach the end of their (first) life. To minimize the environmental impact, there are two options: to recycle or reuse. A second life prior to recycling the batteries may improve their environmental balance. Second-life batteries are suitable for a number of applications despite their degraded performance.

Second-life batteries are either used batteries or a combination of their modules or cells. Due to characteristics dispersion, the elements must be selected and sorted. Performance evolution and battery behavior during second life must be observed. Specific energy management may be needed in second-life applications.

Topics of interest include but are not limited to the following:

• Characterization techniques and performance dispersion;
• Aging characterization during first and second lives;
• Post-mortem analysis;
• Aging, thermal and electric modeling from first to second life and beyond;
• Battery diagnosis and prognosis;
• SoX estimation: State of Charge, State of Function and State of Health;
• Battery management, electro-thermal management and balancing techniques;
• Optimal design of second-life energy storage systems with respect to their lifetime;
• Electrical and thermal safety issues;
• Application of second-life batteries;
• Life-cycle and techno-economic assessment;
• Statistical approaches: machine learning, deep learning.

Prof. Dr. Pascal Venet
Dr. Eduardo Redondo-Iglesias
Guest Editors

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