Electric vehicle batteries will present a huge problem once these cars reach the end of their usable life. Because EVs have experienced a huge boom in demand, the many EVs on the road today will one-day experience battery depletion to the point that the battery must be replaced.

This doesn't mean that the battery is useless, though, and finding a new use for the old battery is essential if we want to make EVs as efficient and clean as possible.

1. Old EV Batteries Can Be Used to Power Streetlights

Old EV batteries with diminished capacity can still be very useful. Just because they've experienced some degradation doesn't mean they can't perform a second job amazingly well. There are many uses for old EV batteries, but some of the more creative uses for these batteries will actually surprise you. One of the coolest implementations of old EV batteries was Nissan's effort with 4R Energy Corporation. According to Nissan's newsroom, they aimed at installing streetlights powered by old Nissan Leaf batteries and solar energy.

Nissan and its affiliate 4R Energy Corporation have teamed up with the town of Namie, Japan, to install new streetlights that will be powered by a combination of solar panels and used batteries from the Nissan LEAF electric car. The project, titled “The Reborn Light,” aims to provide public lighting for Namie’s residents as part of the town’s recovery efforts following the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011.

This is a very innovative use for old EV batteries, and it's great to see Nissan working hard to find ways to utilize depleted EV batteries. All EV manufacturers must take the task of reusing old EV batteries seriously. It's almost strange to see a manufacturer finding uses for their own products after their useful life instead of just focusing on selling new versions of the same product.

Vehicle manufacturing would be much greener if more automakers used this thought process, not just for EV batteries but for waste from their conventional vehicles. Streetlights like this can also be designed to be more resistant to natural disasters than streetlights powered by the grid because they don't need tons of wires to get power from a power plant.

2. Old EV Batteries Are Powering Solar Farms

Most people think of recycling an EV's battery when they think of finding uses that have reached the end of their useful life in a car. But, the truth is that many old EV batteries still have plenty left in the tank for other applications, even when they're deemed at the end of their in-vehicle life. One of these secondary uses is storing energy captured by solar panels.

There's a company that is doing just that. B2U Storage Solutions is dedicated to giving used EV batteries a new lease on life, and they've also built a nice business model to go along with this idea. The company takes advantage of the fact that California (where they're located) has a lot of solar energy adoption, so electricity prices are cheaper when solar energy can keep up with demand. They store energy during the day (using their own solar farm) and then sell it when prices spike later.

They make a profit because electricity prices are lower when solar is at its most powerful, but as the day wears on, electricity prices begin to hike, which is when B2U sells electricity. Starting one of these energy storage projects is much cheaper when you're using second-life batteries because purchasing new batteries is definitely a much more substantial investment.

The only potential risk to this approach is how much life is left in the used batteries that are being purchased. If the batteries die prematurely, perhaps it would have been better to buy new units in the first place. Nevertheless, energy storage projects like this are the future, especially as more and more used EV batteries hit the end of their useful life.

3. Used EV Batteries Are Powering Robots in Factories

Nissan is an extremely innovative company when it comes to EVs. This shouldn't be surprising because Nissan has been in the EV game for quite a while with its Nissan Leaf. The leaf is a great affordable EV, and now Nissan has found another way to breathe new life into old Leaf batteries. Nissan began installing EV batteries in their factory's AGV (automated guided vehicles).

These AGVs are basically small carts that carry parts to factory workers to facilitate their job. Nissan then decided to outfit their AGVs with used batteries instead of new ones. This is a great way to promote the reuse of old EV batteries that still have plenty of capacity.

According to Nissan, this may even lead to increased resale value for the Nissan Leaf because the batteries are still valuable, even at the end of their useful life in a car. In addition, lithium-ion batteries don't have to be replaced as often as lead-acid batteries, and they also charge quicker, helping the assembly line to keep moving along. Nissan UK's news site also mentions that the workers don't have to remove the batteries to recharge them.

AGVs with the lithium-ion batteries, new or repurposed, charge faster. Plus, workers no longer need to take out the batteries to plug them in. The AGVs simply stop momentarily at the charging station along their route and incrementally top up at each passing. This automation saves a great deal of time.

More Uses for Used EV Batteries Will Continue to Appear

As time goes by, EV batteries are getting better, so future used EV batteries will present even more opportunities to reuse them in different applications. Using EV batteries to the very end of their useful life is a great way to make EVs even cleaner for the environment than they already are. Simply recycling old batteries by shredding them misses a lot of opportunities to use these batteries to the very end.