Battery Valuation and Management for Battery Swapping Station with an Intertemporal Framework

TL;DR

This paper develops a life-cycle decision model for battery swapping stations that balances battery degradation and economic benefits, optimizing service provision for energy and transportation applications.

Contribution

It introduces an improved intertemporal decision framework to determine optimal marginal degradation costs for battery energy storage in swapping stations.

Findings

Battery swapping accelerates physical battery degradation but extends economic battery life.

Optimal marginal degradation cost varies with application-specific battery values.

Battery swapping price influences the optimal degradation cost and battery lifespan.

Abstract

Battery swapping as a business model for battery energy storage (BES) has great potential in future integrated low-carbon energy and transportation systems. However, frequent battery swapping will inevitably accelerate battery degradation and shorten the battery life accordingly. To model the tradeoff of BES use between energy and transportation applications coupled by battery swapping, we develop a life-cycle decision model that coordinates battery charging and swapping. This model is derived based on an improved intertemporal decision framework, in which the optimal marginal degradation cost (MDC) of BES is determined to maximize the BES benefit across time and application. The proposed framework and model are applied to manage a battery swapping station that simultaneously provides battery swapping services to electric vehicle customers and provides flexibility service to the power grid, including energy arbitrage and reserve. The case study shows that while the end of the physical life of BES occurs faster with battery swapping, the economic life becomes considerably longer. The results also reveal that the optimal MDC depends on the battery values in each application, and we analyze how the battery swapping price affects the optimal MDC and battery life. The proposed framework and model can also provide decision support for on-demand BES service, such as battery trading, renting and secondary use.