A second life for li-ion cells rescued from notebook batteries

Second life for Li-ion batteries is an extensive research area for batteries used in electric vehicles. In this paper the concept is extended for Li-ion cells obtained from discarded consumer electronics. 152 notebook batteries were disassembled, obtaining 1034 cells and recovering 5.44 kW h of storage capacity. A methodology is proposed to transform notebook batteries into characterized cells, and calculate the cost of second life cells. Concerns are addressed about the selection of cells and design of a second life battery. Finally, a method is proposed to select notebook batteries containing cells with more than 70% capacity, by using data saved in their Battery Management System and test results to train a selection algorithm.