Second Life for Plug-In Vehicle Batteries: Effect of Grid Energy Storage Value on Battery Lease Payments

This research analyzes the potential reduction in battery lease payments for plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) in California that incorporate the value from postvehicle, stationary provision of grid services. PEV batteries repurposed into distributed electrical storage appliances (DESAs) might provide valuable services to electricity customers, utilities, and regional grid operators alike, with improved grid operation, deferred costly upgrades, and support for the penetration and profitability of intermittent renewable energy. This research advances methods for analyzing combined vehicular and postvehicular value and uses new and increasingly sophisticated inputs, including specific PEV characterizations and value for 19 grid applications. The results showed positive but sometimes modest potential benefits. Bounding scenarios all showed reductions in battery lease payments. For the Chevy Volt–based example, which exhibited a 22% reduction in the base case, the bounding scenarios ranged from 1% to 32%. Monte Carlo analysis indicated that the point estimates that were developed might need downward adjustment to account for uncertainty, a situation that would possibly negate second-life benefit. The analysis indicated that if valuable regulation revenues were hotly contested and provided limited impetus to DESA commercialization, value from multiple applications would be necessary to support profitability. This possibility makes the artful combination of services a critical uncertainty. One previously identified combination of multiapplications related to servicing local air-conditioning loads was examined as the base case and was found to be attractive. Another important uncertainty is the cost of power-conditioning requirements, which must also be optimized or reduced with specific combined-load profiles, for example, through coupling DESAs with local photovoltaics.