Fair Market Valuation of EV Batteries in the Circular Economy

PI: Stefan Reichelstein, Co-PI: Stephen Comello, Graduate School of Business. 

With the share of EVs for transportation growing rapidly in many countries, it becomes imperative to examine economically viable use cases for batteries that are no longer suitable for primary mobile applications. This work seeks to conduct a micro-economic analysis of used batteries emerging from transportation-related applications that could be deployed in a second life, before moving to a recycling or disposal stage. The research will develop an economic valuation framework that determines the fair market value of batteries entering their 2nd-life based on their assessed state of health at the end of their first life. This fair market valuation will also consider the expected salvage value that end-of-life EV batteries are likely to yield once the nascent recycling industry for batteries reaches full scale.