Fast Electrical Characterizations of High-Energy Second Life Lithium-Ion Batteries for Embedded and Stationary Applications

Abstract

This paper focuses on the fast characterization of automotive second life lithium-ion batteries that have been recently re-used in many projects to create battery storages for stationary applications and sporadically for embedded applications. Specific criteria dedicated to the second life are first discussed. After a short review of the available state of health indicators and their associated determination techniques, some electrical characterization tests are explored through an experimental campaign. This offline identification aims to estimate the remaining ability of the battery to store energy. Twenty-four modules from six different commercial electric vehicles are analyzed. Well-known methodologies like incremental capacity analysis (ICA) and constant voltage phase analysis during CC-CV charge highlight the difficulty—and sometimes the impossibility—to apply traditional tools on a battery pack or on individual modules, in the context of real second life applications. Indeed, the diversity of the available second life batteries induces a combination of aging mechanisms that leads to a complete heterogeneity from a cell to another. Moreover, due to the unknown first life of the battery, typical state of health determination methodologies are difficult to use. A new generic technique based on a partial coulometric counter is proposed and compared to other techniques. In the present case study, the partial coulometric counter allows a fast determination of the capacity aging. In conclusion, future improvements and working tracks are addressed.

A Circular Economy of Electrochemical Energy Storage Systems: Critical Review of SOH/RUL Estimation Methods for Second-Life Batteries

“…In contrast, SOH and RUL variables have been extensively studied for first-life applications for EVs. Although some published works have developed approaches for diagnosis and prognostics of SLBs applied to real second-life scenarios, such as [26,51,52,56,77], we wanted to check if a SOH estimation method developed for EV application, designed for a SOH value of 80%, could be extended to SOH values below this threshold. Hence, the black-box method proposed by Zhou et al [75] was used for this purpose.…”

“…They obtained a mean absolute error and maximum error within 2%. Similarly, Quinard et al [52] concluded that the ICA technique, used for SOH estimation in SLBs, has a high dependence on the C-rate (i.e., an inverse relationship between C-rate and accuracy). They reported a maximum absolute error of 5%.…”

Batteries and Supercapacitors Aging

“…Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: In response to this call of papers, 12 research papers [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] and one review article [13] from seven different countries have been published. Researchers from academic institutions from France [1,[3][4][5][6][7]9], Germany [2,9,10,12,13], United States [8,11], Russia [4], Spain [9], Belgium [9] and Ethiopia [13] participated, sometimes in collaboration with industrial partners of energy or automotive sectors.…”

“…The dominant energy storage technology treated in this special issue is without a doubt lithium-ion batteries [1,2,[4][5][6][7][8][9][10]13]. However, other technologies are of interest as for example supercapacitors [2] or NiCd batteries [12] and the emerging technology of Lithium-ion capacitors [3,11].…”

“…Experiments are a very important part of ESS aging studies and most of the papers in this Special Issue included experimental results [2,3,[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. Among the different experimental techniques used to measure and detect aging mechanisms taking place in ESS, special attention can be given to Impedance Spectroscopy [2,10,12] and Incremental Capacity [6][7][8] techniques.…”