Ladder utilization is a reasonable secondary use method for decommissioned batteries. However, like the early experience of electric vehicles, due to current problems in technology, business models and other aspects, the ladder utilization of power batteries is moving forward amid controversy. After the battery is recycled, what is the subsequent treatment? In addition to direct disassembly and extraction of metal materials, another important way is the gradient utilization of power batteries. The so-called echelon utilization of power batteries refers to the process of developing electric vehicles. After estimating the life cycle and reusability of power batteries, the battery system is removed from the vehicle into individual units and reorganized for "re-employment" , becoming a new battery energy storage system. An industry insider told a reporter from Financial National Weekly that retired batteries with sufficient remaining power and stable quality can be resold to markets such as low-speed electric vehicles and mobile power banks. At the same time, these batteries can also be used in the field of energy storage through the cascade utilization model, and can be put into places such as commercial residential energy storage stations, electric vehicle charging energy storage stations, and telecommunications base stations. Ladder utilization is a reasonable way to reuse decommissioned batteries. However, like the early experience of electric vehicles, there are still problems in technology, business models and other aspects, and the ladder utilization of power batteries is moving forward amid controversy. The continuous entry of echelon utilization can maximize the use of the product. Investment company Tuojin Research pointed out that the market is enthusiastic about tiered utilization, mainly because this approach is conducive to sharing the production and manufacturing costs of lithium batteries and improving the life cycle economics of new energy vehicles. Li Jian, a professor at Central South University, said that currently more than 90% of low-speed electric vehicles use lead-acid batteries with price advantages. If costs are properly controlled, the price of step-by-step power batteries can be close to that of lead-acid batteries, and compared with lead-acid batteries, step-by-step power batteries have obvious advantages in weight, mileage, and charge and discharge time. "Now the cost of lithium battery cascade utilization energy storage system has entered a new era of 1 yuan/Wh, and user-side energy storage applications have commercial promotion value." Li Jianduo, general manager of Shanghai Xuda New Energy, said. "In comparison, the energy storage cost of new batteries, such as the cost of lead-carbon battery systems is 1.3 yuan to 1.4 yuan/Wh, and the cost of lithium battery systems is 2 yuan/Wh. It can be seen that the cost advantage of cascading energy storage is obvious." Under the broad prospects, companies in many fields have joined in one after another. At the end of October 2018, based on the previous cooperation with 16 vehicle and battery companies, China Tower signed cooperation agreements with 11 car companies including Jianghuai Automobile and NIO. Gao Buwen, deputy general manager of China Tower, said that the total battery capacity of China Tower's national base stations exceeds 40GWh, and a total of 13.79GWh of retired power batteries will be retired by 2020. China Tower can fully absorb this part of retired batteries. If coupled with energy storage, China Tower's demand can absorb the retired power batteries of 10 million new energy vehicles. In terms of car companies, Dongfeng Motor is laying out commercial energy storage, recycling battery energy storage equipment, using peak-valley electricity price differences or renewable energy charging to provide power to electric vehicles and society; BYD has successively won contracts for 43MW, 50MW, and 18MW container energy storage in the UK. Project; WM Motor told a reporter from Financial National Weekly that WM Motor will use ladder batteries to develop a microgrid optical storage, charging and discharging integrated system based on the characteristics of energy storage products, and combine photovoltaics and power grids to build WM Motor's characteristic power storage system. energy projects and accelerate product commercialization. Although there have been attempts to improve cost and safety, overall, the current domestic echelon utilization of decommissioned power batteries is still in the pilot stage. Lai Xiaokang, deputy chairman of the Electric Power Storage Professional Committee of the Chinese Society of Electrical Engineering, said that battery consistency issues have become the biggest challenge faced in the operation of related projects. To realize the echelon utilization of power batteries, multiple steps such as dismantling, testing, screening, and reorganization need to be completed. However, the earliest batch of batteries to reach the end of life are not uniform in size and model, and the entire life cycle of power batteries cannot be traced. At the same time, the quality of the first batch of retired power batteries is also unstable. The quality difference makes the current echelon-used batteries lack significant cost performance and also poses safety risks. "Even after thousands of selections, it is still unavoidable to avoid discreteness during the operation of the energy storage system." Lai Xiaokang said. The relevant person in charge of Bangpu Group told reporters that many OEMs and battery factories have made it clear that they are unwilling to use recycled batteries for echelon utilization to avoid safety accidents during the echelon utilization process and have a negative impact on the company's brand. Huang Shilin, vice chairman and chief strategy officer of CATL, has a more "radical" view: "The cascade utilization of energy storage in power batteries is a false proposition." Huang Shilin believes that the industry generally believes that cascade utilization has found a suitable application scenario in communication base stations. , China Tower’s route is not feasible, mainly because it is not cost-effective economically and poses safety risks. The breakthrough is imminent and echelon utilization has been questioned, mainly due to factors such as inconsistent technical standards and lack of industry supervision. To solve these problems, production standardization and supervision systems are particularly critical. Li Li, inspector of the Department of Energy Conservation and Comprehensive Utilization of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, proposed that a recycling system for the power battery cascade utilization industry needs to be established urgently. Cooperation between industry, academia and research must be strengthened to make joint breakthroughs in some key common technologies. The financial department has issued corresponding targeted policies. Measures to promote the development of recycling. From a technical perspective, how to establish a full life cycle detection system for power batteries and non-destructively predict battery life is the key to echelon utilization. Industry experts said that relevant departments need to establish a big data traceability system platform to conduct systematic analysis of retired batteries to obtain big data that can enter the echelon utilization market. The data includes design information, performance data security, incoming material testing, etc. The relevant person in charge of BAIC New Energy believes that the industry needs to increase the research and development of key recycling and reuse technologies, study battery standardization, implement a traceability system, and use strong management to promote tiered utilization. In addition, Zhang Ying, secretary-general of the scrapped vehicle branch of the China Renewable Resources Recycling Association, believes that whether it is cascade utilization or direct scrap recycling, it must be "profitable" for the participating entities. If a large amount of financial and material resources are invested, the economic advantages of cascade utilization of power batteries will be weakened, and the enthusiasm of participating companies cannot be mobilized. In order to improve the cascade utilization rate, a profitable business model must be found so that participating entities can survive in market-oriented operations. The aforementioned person in charge of BAIC New Energy told reporters that tiered utilization should carry out innovative business model pilots based on technical and economic analysis and evaluation, and then replicate after accumulating experience.

Read recommendations:

603450 1200mAh 3.7V

Lithium battery BMS function

Main characteristics of lithium batteries

li ion 18650 battery pack maker

18650 li ion rechargeable battery