Review Towards a business model for second-life batteries – barriers, opportunities, uncertainties, and technologies Carlos Antônio Rufino Júnior a,d , Eleonora Riva Sanseverino b , Pierluigi Gallo b,c , Daniel Koch d , Yash Kotak d , Hans-Georg Schweiger d , Hudson Zanin a,⇑ a Advanced Energy Storage Division, New Energy Innovation Center, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas 13083-852, Brazil b Engineering Department, University of Palermo (UNIPA), Palermo 90128, Italy c Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Telecomunicazioni (CNIT), Parma 43124, Italy d Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt, Institute for Electric, Connected and Safe Mobility (C-ECOS), Ingolstadt 85049, Germany article info Article history: Received 29 September 2022 Revised 25 November 2022 Accepted 7 December 2022 Available online 2 January 2023 Keywords: Business models Batteries Sustainability Electric vehicles Challenges Opportunities Lithium-ion batteries Reuse abstract Electric vehicles (EVs) and the recent pandemic outbreak give cities a new trend to primarily private and shared mobility with low noise and less air pollution. Crucial factors for the widespread of EVs are the electrical charging infrastructure, driving range, and the reduction of the cost of battery packets. For this reason, there is a massive effort from manufacturers, governments, and the scientific community to reduce battery costs and boost sustainable electrical production and distribution. Battery reuse is an alternative to reduce batteries’ costs and environmental impacts. Second-life batteries can be used in a wide variety of secondary applications. Second-life batteries can be connected with off-grid or on-grid photovoltaic and wind systems, vehicle charging stations, forklifts, and frequency control. The present work aims to analyze the main challenges imposed on the reuse of batteries, the leading technologies for their reuse, and the different types of batteries in terms of their feasibility for second-life use. The main novelty of this work is the discussion about the barriers, opportunities, uncertainties, and technolo- gies for the second life market. Here we summarize the present state of the art in reusing lithium-ion bat- teries discussing technical and economic feasibility, environmental impacts, and perspectives. The results show five business models that have been proposed in the literature, three types of markets for trading second-life batteries, and the main opportunities and barriers for each actor in the battery supply chain. Ó 2022 Science Press and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. and Science Press. All rights reserved. Contents 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................... 508 2. Method ............................................................................................................. 509 3. Business models ...................................................................................................... 509 3.1. Concepts....................................................................................................... 509 3.2. Market types for trading second-life batteries ........................................................................ 510 3.3. Opportunities for key players in the second-life battery supply chain ..................................................... 511 3.4. Main typologies of business models proposed in the literature ........................................................... 511 3.5. Key uncertainties and barriers in the second-life battery market ......................................................... 513 3.6. Projects and success stories focusing on second-life batteries ............................................................ 514 3.7. Key players .................................................................................................... 516 3.8. Costs involved in reusing batteries ................................................................................. 516 4. Second-life application................................................................................................. 518 4.1. Off-grid applications ............................................................................................. 518 4.2. Energy arbitrage (on-grid application) ............................................................................... 519 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jechem.2022.12.019 2095-4956/Ó 2022 Science Press and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. and Science Press. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail address: hzanin@unicamp.br (H. Zanin). Journal of Energy Chemistry 78 (2023) 507–525 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Energy Chemistry journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jechem