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The rising demand for lithium and other battery materials has dumped a load of supply chain baggage onto electric vehicles, much to the delight of critics. They are laughing now. However, solutions are emerging as the EV battery recycling field cranks up and expands to include second life repurposing as well.
EV Battery Recycling Meets Second Life
The idea of repurposing used EV batteries for stationary energy storage has been percolating under the surface since at least 2011, when Ford hooked up a 50-kilowatt array of EV batteries to solar panels at one of its assembly plants.
Back then, EV battery recycling and repurposing both faced a major obstacle. There simply weren’t enough used batteries in circulation to make a business out of dealing with their afterlife.
Much has changed since then. EV sales continue to grow and so has the EV battery recycling field. Still, recycling is an energy-sucking operation. In terms of environmental impact, the longer a battery can remain in use before recycling, the better.
One factor working in that direction is today’s generation of longer lasting EV batteries. Now that more data is available on real-life EV driving habits, evidence is emerging that the on-road life of EV batteries far outlasts the span indicated by laboratory tests.
Still, eventually an EV battery is going to shed its road-worthiness, and now a growing second life industry is there to pick up the slack.
A Second Life For EV Batteries: It’s Complicated
Repurposing used EV batteries for stationary energy storage is a complicated maneuver. Among the firms to figure it out is the Canadian startup Moment Energy.
The company already bills itself as “North America’s leading EV battery repurposing company” and a partner with A-list automakers, including Mercedes Benz’s Energy branch. They have also figured out where their target market is.
“Moment Energy’s battery energy storage systems (BESS) can be deployed in projects ranging from 400 kilowatt hours (kWh) to 10 megawatt hours (MWh), targeting an intermediate market segment that is currently underserved but crucial to the clean energy transition,” the company explains, taking note of the market in EV charging field as well as commercial and industrial operations.
As for where all the used batteries will come from, Moment anticipates diverting a healthy number from the EV battery recycling industry, citing an estimate of 953 gigawatt-hours worth of of second-life batteries available by 2030.
Here Comes The Gigafactory
That’s good for starters, and the company has set its sights on expanding. Earlier this month the company announced a successful $15 million round of Series A funding co-led by the Amazon Climate Pledge Fund and Voyager Ventures, with the aim of constructing a giga-scale factory in the US.
Other participants were the not-for-profit global accelerator In-Q-Tel, Version One Ventures, Overture Ventures, WovenEarth Ventures, Fika Ventures, MCJ, One Small Planet, and Climate Capital.
If you’re wondering why the factory is coming to the US and not Canada, that’s a good question. Part of the answer is the Biden administration, which awarded $20.3 million to the firm last year for bringing its new gigafactory to Texas, along with more than 250 new jobs.
If you’re wondering why Texas, that’s also a good question. Despite the state’s spotlight position in the EV industry as the host of Tesla’s headquarters and factory, Texas has earned a bad reputation for EV adoption.
“Texas has cheaper electricity but a bad ratio of EVs registered to charging ports and service centers. The annual savings on gas money is only about $1,000, and there are no tax incentives,” notes one analyst.
Nevertheless, absent any interference from the Trump administration, Texas will host a venture aimed at accelerating the energy transition and providing EV makers with a more sustainable end-of-life solution while enjoying the economic benefits of 250 new jobs. If all goes according to plan, Moment will begin preparing for the design and development phase of the new factory within the next couple of months.
“We serve as a catalyst for an exciting new circular economy that increases energy security as energy demand rises,” enthused said Moment Energy CEO Edward Chiang in a press statement.
Update: As of January 28, all federal funding is on hold by order of the President. Sorry, Texas.
More & Better EV Battery Recycling
If President Trump really does pull the rug out from under those 250 new jobs in Texas, Moment Energy can simply pack up and take its jobs elsewhere. The company has a foothold beyond North America through its relationship with Mercedes-Benz and other automakers, and it is currently working on an expansion of its headquarters in Vancouver with an eye on the global market.
In a related matter, the Trump order also impacts Biden-era funding programs that supporting a new EV battery recycling industry in the US, and the jobs that come along with it. If the aim is to hurt Republican voters, that’s a good way to do it.
Last fall, for example, the Biden administration announced a new $44.8 round of funding divided among eight projects aimed at bringing down the cost of recycling. Three of the eight projects are spearheaded by A-list firms with global and domestic manufacturing footprints. GM and Siemens each received almost $8 million to demonstrate automated systems for battery handling at recycling facilities, and Caterpillar’s Integrated Components and Solutions branch received just over $5 million to develop new battery pack designs that make EV battery recycling more efficient and less labor-intensive.
If that support vanishes, GM, Siemens, and Caterpillar can pack up their new EV battery recycling technology and take it elsewhere.
Speaking of Caterpillar, the company went out of its way to curry favor with the incoming Trump administration even before Election Day. In September, the company joined a growing list of corporate citizens to announce a rollback of their DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) programs. So much for that. Perhaps they didn’t do enough currying. After all, you get what you pay for.
On a somewhat brighter note, the EV battery recycling firm startup Redwood Materials, helmed by Tesla Motors co-founder JB Straubel (for the record, the other co-founder was Martin Eberhardt), seems to have gotten its operations under way before the clampdown (see the entire CleanTechnica Redwood archive here).
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Image: Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund is supporting a new “second life” venture that complements EV battery recycling, by extending the useful life of the whole battery (courtesy of Climate Pledge Fund via LinkedIn).
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