Award-winning energy-storage company, Connected Energy, has announced its collaboration with Lancaster University Doctoral Researcher Thomas Jalili Tanha, Professor Katy Mason and Dr. Teea Palo to undertake a study into the making of a Circular Economy, for EV batteries.
The project, which is funded by the Economic & Social Research Council, aims to understand how a circular economy for 2nd life EV batteries can be established and incorporated into the business models of companies thereby turning sustainability into a competitive advantage through sales, profitability and social benefits.
As Thomas Jalili Tanha explains, “We argue that 2nd life applications will be central to ‘closing the loop’ in the development of a circular economy for EV batteries (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2014). Instead of a ’sourcing-making-disposing’ supply chain, the recycling of end-of-life battery materials back into the production process needs to become economically and ethically desirable.”
Connected energy’s CEO Matthew Lumsden agrees, “Recent policy announcements, business news and our own expanding order book have illustrated the momentum building in the energy-storage sector, particularly in the area of 2nd life EV battery installations. We need to harness this momentum and growing social awareness of sustainability issues, to promote the advantages of a circular economy approach. We are keen to understand how to do this better and share knowledge of how businesses can achieve it themselves.”
Thomas Jalili Tanha continues, “This collaboration with Connected Energy is the start of the conversation. We are keen for others to get involved in our research as we need to get a diversity of opinions from the market, policy makers, regulators and energy businesses. We are ‘holding up the mirror’ to these organisations, asking what is important to them, what challenges and opportunities they face, what they do about it, and what needs to happen next in the making of a circular economy. The insights will be shared collectively in the form of white papers.”
Matthew concludes, “This is a very exciting period for green technologies, particularly those in the EV sphere; whether battery manufacturers who want to mitigate the supply chain risk associated with raw material or component sourcing and volatile commodity market prices; or EV manufacturers, for whom a circular economy and the use of 2nd life batteries in stationary energy storage applications can help reduce EV costs and increase sales – which is where we take over.”
To find out more or to be a part of this research and its potential for business, please contact Thomas Jalili Tanha (t.jalilitanha@lancaster.ac.uk) or +49 170 588 9117.
