Why can't car batteries be used for energy storage batteries?

With the increasing demand for energy and the popularity of renewable energy, energy storage batteries have become an important solution. They can not only balance electricity demand, but also provide emergency power guarantee, especially in home and commercial energy storage systems. However, many people may wonder, since car batteries (such as lithium batteries) have excellent performance, can they be applied to energy storage systems? This article will explore why car batteries cannot be directly applied to energy storage batteries, and analyze key issues such as price and recycling methods.

1. Cost difference:

Car batteries, especially lithium batteries used in electric vehicles (EVs), usually have higher manufacturing costs. These battery designs require high power density and fast charging and discharging capabilities to cope with the acceleration, starting and high load requirements of the car. These characteristics make the manufacturing cost of car batteries much higher than that of energy storage batteries.

High performance requirements: Car batteries need to provide a large amount of power output in a short period of time to meet the instantaneous power demand when the car is driving. This design requirement leads to high quality requirements for battery materials, which in turn drives up costs.

Cost-effectiveness of energy storage batteries: The design focus of energy storage batteries is stability, capacity density and long-term durability. Although they also need to have a certain power output capability, they do not require frequent high-power output like car batteries. Therefore, energy storage batteries are relatively low in cost and more suitable for long-term use.

Conclusion: Due to the cost difference, car batteries are not suitable for direct use in energy storage systems, especially in large-scale energy storage applications that require a large number of battery packs. The use of high-cost car batteries will significantly increase the overall cost.

2. Different design goals:

Car batteries are mainly designed to cope with high-frequency, high-power rapid charge and discharge cycles, which is different from the needs of energy storage batteries.

Design goals of car batteries: These batteries need to have the ability to charge quickly and discharge at high power for a short time to ensure that the car can provide strong power output when starting and accelerating instantly.

Design goals of energy storage batteries: Unlike car batteries, energy storage batteries emphasize more long-term stable discharge, usually under stable load conditions. This means that energy storage batteries need to provide continuous and stable power rather than fast high-power output.

This difference determines the difference in material selection and manufacturing process between energy storage batteries and car batteries, further increasing the inapplicability of car batteries in energy storage systems.

3. Recycling and environmental impact:

Although automotive batteries and energy storage batteries differ in structure and function, their recycling methods and environmental impacts also differ significantly, mainly in the composition and recycling process of the batteries.

Composition and recycling issues of automotive batteries:

Automobile batteries (especially NCA and NCM batteries) contain a large amount of heavy metals such as nickel, cobalt, and aluminum. These materials not only have a large burden on the environment, but also in the recycling process, the extraction technology of cobalt and nickel is relatively complex and the recycling efficiency is low.

Environmental issues: The mining of nickel and cobalt usually has a serious impact on the ecological environment, and the prices of these two metals fluctuate greatly, resulting in unstable battery costs. After the battery is scrapped, the recycling process requires more sophisticated processing, which increases the difficulty of waste treatment.

Composition and recycling advantages of energy storage batteries:

The“lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4)” component used in energy storage batteries is more environmentally friendly than traditional electric vehicle batteries. The recycling process of lithium iron phosphate batteries is relatively simple, and the recycling technology of iron elements is more mature and efficient.

Environmental advantages: During the production and use of lithium iron phosphate batteries, the negative impact on the environment is small, and its recycling rate is high, which does not bring pollution risks like nickel, cobalt, and aluminum. Even after the battery is scrapped, the recycling and treatment of lithium iron phosphate is relatively simple, reducing the long-term impact on the environment.

4. Performance differences:

The performance characteristics of the battery, such as cycle life and self-discharge rate, also affect its applicability in different applications.

Performance of automotive batteries: The design of automotive batteries focuses on high current output in a short period of time, and often has a high energy density, but its cycle life is relatively short, and performance degradation is prone to frequent charging and discharging.

Performance of energy storage batteries: Energy storage batteries require a longer service life and usually work under lower power loads, so their cycle life is longer and suitable for long-term use.

This performance difference also prevents automotive batteries from being directly applied to energy storage systems, especially in energy storage situations that require long-term stable operation. If you need to customize energy storage batteries, you can contact  SUNESS team!