A recent MIT study (link) shows that electrical vehicle batteries could have a useful and profitable second life as backup storage for grid-scale solar photovoltaic installations. These batteries are clearly interesting for storing energy for stationary applications, but are not only limited to photovoltaic farms.

IREC has worked more than 7 years in this field and has validated several EV and PHEV batteries for different real applications. In the framework of two demonstration projects [Sunbatt (2014-2016) and REFER (2016-2019)] it was possible to estimate the lifespan of these batteries for each application using ageing models optimizing their control through technology developed at IREC – bringing this technology closer to reality.

A significant number of companies and spin-offs are developing new commercial products based on second life batteries. At the moment, IREC is collaborating and transferring its knowledge to start-ups.

Check the following links with some of the related research by the Energy Systems Analytics group at IREC:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652618337077?via%3Dihub

https://www.jiem.org/index.php/jiem/article/view/2009

https://www.riverpublishers.com/journal_read_html_article.php?j=JGE/6/1/4