OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (WATE) – When aging vehicle batteries no longer have the juice to power a car, they may still have some power left. A new study from Oak Ridge National Laboratory is working to find applications for these batteries, specifically lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles, which can be difficult given the different manufacturers, ages and sizes .
Michael Starke, a researcher at ORNL Grid Integration, said they have been working to develop a new technology that allows this type of reuse of electric batteries. Starke said most recently that he and his team have focused on the integration aspect of the research.
He explained that by creating a storage system for these batteries, theoretically, the excess energy could be integrated into the electricity grid when the demand for electricity increases. The mix of batteries can be controlled to release a predetermined amount of electricity into the grid.
“We have each battery pack discharge at a different rate, while making sure the target energy output stays the same,” Starke said in a press release.
Starke went on to say that utilities could use this stored energy instead of burning fossil fuels in “peaking” plants.
Starke explained in an interview with WATE 6 On Your Side what the next steps are, saying he will take this experiment out of the simulation phase and into reality.
“We have simulators and emulators that allow us to emulate the battery technology, so we’re looking to work with industry partners to do a full-scale demonstration of the final prototype,” Starke said. “That would be working with some of the aftermarket manufacturers, or if there are GM partners, or Ford partners, and even Volkswagen, which is now in Chattanooga, expanding that relationship with them.”
Starke believes this technology would be incredibly applicable in a real-world setting. He explained that this type of recycling could even help supplement solar and wind energy resources when Mother Nature isn’t cooperating.
“Make sure that when we have load, that when wind and solar aren’t necessarily generating, to make sure that storage replaces that mismatch,” Starke said. “We constantly have to make sure there’s load or if we have challenges with the network, and that’s what this storage plays a major role in.”
The project’s ORNL researchers also said this approach could reduce pollution, extend the usefulness of these electric vehicle batteries and make electric service more reliable, at almost no cost.
