Rivian and Redwood Materials partner to re-use Rivian batteries at Normal plant

[mkhuffman]

This article came out about Redwood back in Oct of last year. https://www.volts.wtf/p/can-second-life-ev-batteries-work It might address some of the questions you may have about how their technology works.

Someone was questioning why a battery may still work for grid energy storage when it no longer functions for a EV, I think this article addresses those concerns?

According to that article, the average "retired" automotive HVB has a SoH of 80%. That sounds about right, since most people who have a hard time with 80% of the new range.

Even if it is worse, like 70%, it is still 141 x 0.7 = 98.7 kWh of battery (assuming my Tri-Max battery is used), which is more than enough to keep my house running for a long time.

What if a used battery like that cost $5k? Man, what a deal. It is huge, though. So massive and so heavy - too heavy for me to move around without serious help. I wonder if it would even fit in the back of my Gen4 R1T.

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[Rivian Owner]

I think Redwood is more focused on the industrial and utility sectors vs the home environment. A better home option is a battery on wheels.....Vehicle to Home V2H.

Im still waiting for R1 V2H from Rivian. Yes I know there are some options available now but they tend to be closed architecture. We need a domestic solution like Redwood where the interface is vehicle agnostic, the system is optimized for supporting single family homes, and the system just acts as the middle man.

 

[BigSkies]

Please help me understand, if a battery is no longer a good use in an EV...how is it still good to use in another application? I know with many home battery set ups, they are often charged and discharged daily to make best use of peak vs off peak electric rates.

Many "totaled" Rivian's on this forum have an undamaged battery pack. They can't sell the battery as new, but they can repurpose it.

 

[Yossarian]

. . .
EV batteries are often the longest-lived part of the vehicle itself, designed to last many hundreds of thousands of miles and, in many cases, to remain healthy even when the vehicle is retired, they are extremely valuable as stationary energy storage devices.

There's also the matter of battery recycling, which essentially gives new life to most of the materials in the pack when properly taken apart. I don't think that any company has that up and running at a giant scale (I know Redwood mentioned above does do some recycling). Not sure if this announcement involves any true recycling or if it's just straight-up repurposing the packs...

My understanding is that the reason no one is presently recycling EV batteries at scale is due to the lack of the main raw material, by which I mean battery packs that have reached the end their effective service life. Given how long-lived EV battery packs are turning out to be, and their utility in stationary electric storage applications, even at relatively low levels of capacity, it could be some time before we see recycling at scale.

 

[VandalSibs]

My understanding is that the reason no one is presently recycling EV batteries at scale is due to the lack of the main raw material, by which I mean battery packs that have reached the end their effective service life. Given how long-lived EV battery packs are turning out to be, and their utility in stationary electric storage applications, even at relatively low levels of capacity, it could be some time before we see recycling at scale.

Makes sense - although I thought I saw a BMW press release or similar that touted a recycled battery pack in a new model? Maybe it was just recycled materials for the non-battery parts (structural steel/aluminum)...

 

[docwhiz]

I would love to be able to buy an old pack and do a DIY installation at my house. In theory it should be a lot cheaper than the equivalent new battery.

DIY:

 

[BigSkies]

DIY:

As compelling an idea as it is, I'm all for not having my neighbors trying to wire a 400V DC battery into 240V residential wiring.

The Venn diagram of people I trust to do this right and the people that will actually attempt this does not have enough overlap for my tastes.

 

[mkhuffman]

As compelling an idea as it is, I'm all for not having my neighbors trying to wire a 400V DC battery into 240V residential wiring.

The Venn diagram of people I trust to do this right and the people that will actually attempt this does not have enough overlap for my tastes.

Maybe you just need a bigger yard.

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