As the number of vehicles continues to grow, more batteries become available for recycling and reuse. Many of these batteries still have significant capacity, making them well-suited for second-life applications, such as energy storage in photovoltaic systems or managing peak energy demand. Typically, only the battery cells are repurposed, while a new Battery Management System (BMS) is installed. However, for a truly circular economy, the reuse of the BMS should also be considered. Extending the lifespan of both battery cells and their management systems can maximize resource efficiency, reduce the environmental impact of battery production, and create a more sustainable energy ecosystem. Therefore, our contributions to this topic include: a literature review exploring why original BMS are often discarded and identifying factors that support their reuse, followed by suggestions on how to increase opportunities for BMS reuse, ensuring a more sustainable approach to battery lifecycle management.
We identified several challenges when trying to reuse a BMS. The communication interfaces may not be known, making communication between a second-life OEM and the BMS difficult. First-life OEMs often do not share information or documentation about the BMS design, control strategies, or battery parameters, making it complicated to control the cells in a second life. Due to new use cases, specifications, and environments the existing BMS software and hardware may be obsolete. Finally, insurance and certifications may be no longer valid if a first-life BMS is used in other environments.
On the other hand, reusing the original BMS for second-life applications can also offer several opportunities. As dismantling, assessing the health and rebuilding a new system is labor-intensive and costly, reusing a battery pack in its existing state is a more cost-effective option. The health assessment is easier and faster if the pack history stored on the original BMS is considered. Developing a new BMS is a complex and expensive task that can be simplified by reusing the existing BMS. Finally, the circular economy is further strengthened by the reuse of BMS, as the production of a new BMS ties up new resources.
We, therefore, propose the following action points to overcome the identified challenges and foster the wider reuse of original BMS. Secure data sharing: protect intellectual property while enabling historical battery data exchange. Reliable SoH proof: ensure trustworthy battery health verification. Standardized BMS for second life: ease second-life repurposing having a unified BMS. Future-ready BMS: development of processes for secure cross-company updates.
Future work will focus on an extensive economic analysis of repurposing BMS in second-life applications, followed by a derivation of requirements to be implemented in first-life BMS enabling reuse in second-life applications. Finally, a standardized BMS architecture will be designed and implemented.