Anna Chen serves as General Manager of BSLBATT Battery, and has worked in the lithium battery industry for over 10 years. Right now, our industry faces a number of big changes, coming fast and disrupting our processes. Anna wanted to offer her thoughts on these changes, what Forklift Dealer buyers & operators should expect, and how BSLBATT is working to help.
Lithium batteries are enabling the energy transition in many industries and are experiencing explosive growth in demand across many industries and geographic locations. At the end of their expected useful life of 5–10 years, lithium batteries are thoroughly tested and repurposed for less power-intensive applications, such as energy storage, and continue to work for another 5–10 years.
The low cost of the used lithium cells used in solar energy generation systems drives down the price of renewable energy for end users. The repurposing of lithium batteries reduces waste and the energy required for recycling. These benefits make lithium battery technology the most sustainable power source on the market.
Challenges
There has been a significant rise in the production of lithium-ion batteries, primarily due to their fast-growing use in electric vehicles, electric industrial equipment such as forklifts, power storage for renewable energy generation, emergency power storage for IT and telecommunications, medical equipment, home appliances, and electronics.
As a result of a sky-rocketing increase in demand, the cost per kWh for lithium batteries has increased for the first time in 2022, leading to higher costs for the buyers of energy storage batteries in renewable power generating systems.
Even with the increasing rate of lithium battery recycling, there is a need to dramatically reduce the amount of waste from the anticipated influx of batteries reaching their end of useful life.
BSLBATT started manufacturing lithium forklift batteries in 2012 and most of its battery packs are still in the field well past the 5 year warranty. But some batteries were shipped back to the company before the end of their useful life for various reasons such as end of trial period or physical damage.
The story of a particular BSL B-LFP48-560MH LFP forklift battery begins with a Toyota 8FBCHU25 Class I sit-down forklift operating at a Toyota Forklift Rental Company facility in Florida, USA. This was a demonstration project to evaluate the advantages of lithium batteries over lead-acid batteries. After the trial period, this customer of BSLBATT ordered a larger capacity 615Ah 48V lithium battery and changed its fleet to single-battery multi-shift operation.
Our demo batteries went back to BSLBATT USA and each had many years of life left, but no chance of being used again in a new forklift battery.
Fortunately, in 2023 BSLBATT partnered with Bluewater Battery Logistics to repurpose and recycle forklift lithium batteries. Bluewater tests and evaluates batteries and sends spent batteries for hydrometallurgical recycling. Other cells found new applications. “Bluewater Battery evaluates a number of variables to find the best way to repurpose batteries for a second life while minimizing environmental impact,” explains Bluewater CEO Steve Feinberg. Geographic locations with minimal transportation and our partners’ expertise in repurposing batteries.” The new life of batteries in secondary applications depends on how well they perform in voltage, Ah capacity, and various state-of-health (SOH) parameter tests.
That's how the LFP prismatic lithium cells from the Florida demonstration battery made their way to battery purgatory at Bluewater, where they are analyzed and their next lifespan determined.
BlueWater partners with several companies building innovative solutions to repurpose lithium cells for various applications. One of them is HigherWire, which focuses on small- and medium-capacity users up to 50kWh, with a plan for 2023 to have a few thousand total kWh installed.
Since 2019, HigherWire has been acquiring used lithium batteries from forklifts, EVs, and golf carts. The company accepts smaller 18650 cells from e-bike and scooter batteries, and even smaller cells from consumer electronics.
Solar energy storage installation site at South Mountain Park, City of Phoenix.
“It is really important to be able to accurately estimate batteries’ SOH,” says Trevor Warren, CEO of HigherWire.
“We want to make the whole concept of repurposed lithium batteries more viable and drive the cost down.” Trevor suggests that every battery needs a digital “passport” with reliable data on usage and current state. There are significant savings in labor and energy costs for testing the cells, as well as additional trust from the end use.
Warren works with both B2B and B2C segments, providing power sources and helping with the design of solar energy generation systems for local governments and municipalities, as well as remote rural users or solar generators. HigherWire also sells 12V and 24V battery packs directly to end-users for RVs, fishing boats, portable and home reserve power packs, etc.
A good example of the use of the HigherWire solution is through the pilot project with the City of Phoenix .“Here at the city, we want to be supporters of circular economy entrepreneurs helping our region transition from the linear economy and keep waste out of the landfill,” says Amanda Jordan, Circular Economy project manager for the City of Phoenix.
Jordan is partnering with Higherwire on a pilot project to use remanufactured lithium batteries for solar panel energy storage to power lighting in South Mountain Park. The pilot kicked off on June 9, 2023, and will continue for one year. The major concern has always been the batteries’ resistance to Arizona heat. “The positive outcome of this project will pave the road to the mass usage of second-life lithium cells as energy storage for the renewables (in Arizona).”
This is where the story of BSLBATT demo battery ends. The lithium cells used in a forklift at the Toyota forklift dealer ended up in the energy storage for a solar array and are expected to work reliably for another 10 years.
U.S. will surpass 1 million annual EV sales in 2023 and used EV batteries will provide used lithium cells for bigger-scale projects. “We work to directly repurpose EV battery packs across a few different OEMs,” says Antoni Tong, CEO at Smartville, which currently has multiple grid-interconnected projects under development.
“[Repurposing used lithium batteries] supports domestic supply chain and manufacturing,” explains Tong.
Smartville’s customers include commercial and industrial applications sized from a few hundred kWh to a few MWh. For example, UC San Diego uses its 2nd life battery energy storage system to store solar energy from 200-kW rooftop solar to reduce demand on the local utility grid after sunset and avoid peak electricity rates. The 500-kWh system built by Smartville also provides up to 48 hours of emergency backup power.
This comes down to a premium lithium forklift battery supply. With five automated lithium battery production lines, more than $45 million in fixed assets, more than 100 technicians to service your equipment, and a variety of financing options, we can meet any request.
In terms of service level, I believe what sets BSL Battery apart is our professionalism, experienced team and technical training.
Energy transition, which plays a vital part in fighting climate change is enabled in many aspects by lithium battery technology. Repurposing lithium cells at the end of their useful life for their main application to less-demanding applications does not just offset gigantic amounts of waste.
The abundance of used lithium industrial batteries also fuels the creation of new businesses and reduces the price of solar energy from small rural plants to MWh installations, further accelerating the adoption of renewables.
