Commissioned by Zhero Systems (a trading name of Refurb Battery), CE Delft assessed the climate benefits of repurposing battery cells in stationary energy storage systems compared to new (virgin) battery cells.
The analysis shows that reusing battery cells in a battery tray reduces the climate change impact by approximately 75% compared to a similar tray made from virgin battery cells. The life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of a conventional tray, consisting of 640 virgin battery cells, amount to 5.8 g CO₂-eq./kWh for the tray itself and 29.0 g CO₂-eq./kWh for the cells. The life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of a similar tray produced by Refurb through refurbishing 640 used battery cells amount to 6.5 g CO₂-eq./kWh for the tray and 2.9 g CO₂-eq./kWh for the cells.
The climate change impact (carbon footprint) was calculated in accordance with the ISO 14040–44 LCA guidelines for structure and application, using the IPCC method (GWP100) to quantify climate change impacts (kg CO₂-eq.). Although there is currently no obligation to perform a carbon footprint assessment, the analysis was conducted taking into account upcoming guidelines (draft version) of the “Rules for the Calculation of the Carbon Footprint of Electric Vehicle Batteries (CFB-EV) – Final Draft” (JRC, 2023)