Cummins Studies Second Life for Vehicle Batteries

(Image courtesy of Cummins Inc.)

Columbus-based Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) is teaming up with the University of California San Diego to find ways to reuse and repurpose electric vehicle batteries which maintain a significant amount of power. 

Under the multi-year agreement, UC San Diego will develop a “second-life” demonstration system using Cummins battery modules. This will allow the company to obtain data on aging batteries. Cummins says while batteries from electric vehicles may no longer meet minimum requirements for that purpose, the batteries might be useful in a different capacity.

“Repurposing batteries to less-demanding applications not only provides a higher value through the life of the battery, it increases sustainability by postponing recycling as well,” said Julie Furber, vice president for Cummins electrified power division.

Cummins created its electrified power sector in 2018 to design and create fully electric and hybrid powertrain systems to serve commercial markets.

“Electrification has the potential to play an enormous role as we move toward decarbonization of many industries, but in order to maximize that potential, it’s crucial that we focus on the sustainability of the entire product life cycle,” said Furber.

As part of the research, UC San Diego will also study battery capacity under grid energy storage applications.