What to Do with Old Electric Car Batteries

Due to increased pollution, rising fuel prices, and new government laws stating that the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles will end by 2030, there has been an upsurge in electric vehicle purchases, with more than one in ten new vehicles being EVs. The UK government has also launched schemes that offer support of up to 75% towards the price of installing smart charge points for electric vehicles at residential premises. This has created a great impact even on the used car market as there has been an increase in demand for used electric cars.

In order to keep customers loyal to their brands, many manufacturers launched new electric vehicles and made the transition to electric an easy one. However, there are a few misconceptions related to electric cars, including old electric car batteries being dumped at landfills and that batteries are non-biodegradable and will cause more damage to the environment.

 

 

There is no need to be concerned about this, as these batteries can either be recycled or given a second life. With all the technological implementations, electric car batteries are designed to have a long lifespan which is estimated to be between 10-20 years, outlasting the life of a car. It is also important to notice that these batteries come with a manufacturer warranty of about 8 years or 100,000-200,000 miles.

It would be a good idea to reuse the battery once its capacity has been depleted rather than immediately thinking about disposal as it will still contain more than two-thirds of its useful energy, which helps in delivering an additional 6-7 years of service when used a second time.

Many of the big car manufacturers, including Nissan and Tesla, are looking for innovative ways to reuse these batteries. They also sell refurbished battery packs to their customers or replace the old EV batteries with original battery packs in EVs under warranty. The good news is that a rising number of project developers are researching new ways to reuse old EV batteries, so it’s not just manufacturers that are looking for better battery solutions.

 

 

New companies are entering the battery market that specializes in selling used lithium EV cells and modules to EV users such as Secondlife EV Batteries, the first UK company to invest in the sale of used lithium EV batteries for reuse, recycling, and repurposing. Even Indian companies like Hinduja Group have invested in the UK's large-scale stationary energy storage systems made from recycled batteries for electric vehicles.

You may either sell your used EV batteries to an automotive market or online on websites like eBay. Many hobbyists buy used batteries and utilize them to make new things or reuse them by storing them safely to use as renewable energy sources such as solar panels.

 

 

If you would rather keep the batteries instead of selling them, do not expect them to have a third life as it would be unrealistic. Now that the EV batteries have reached the end of their working life, they can be recycled. Since recycling batteries is not a simple procedure, many businesses are working to make it so. One of the top resource management companies in the UK, Veolia, has announced the opening of its first electric battery recycling facility and aims by 2024, to be able to recycle 20% of the UK's old electric batteries.

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