Selecting second life battery for electric tractors
AssigneesToyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc., Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsAllison McGowan, Adam Muehlhauser, Matthew James Dula, Rudra Sanjiv Mehta
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The systems, devices, and methods described herein relate to producing or selecting a second-life battery that would be unsuitable for an electric vehicle but suitable for use with a tractor or other work vehicle. The second-life battery may be integrated into the tractor or a trailer connected to the tractor and provide electrical power to the tractor.
Claims20
A method for providing power for a tractor, comprising:
- selecting a second-life battery by:
- providing a plurality of vehicle batteries;
- conducting a state-of-health (SOH) test on each of the plurality of vehicle batteries;
- comparing a SOH result value for each of the SOH tests to a target SOH range, the target SOH range being below a predetermined minimum SOH value for powering an electric vehicle and above a predetermined minimum SOH value for powering a tractor;
- and
- selecting a first second-life battery of the plurality of vehicle batteries with a SOH result being within the target SOH range;
- positioning the first second-life battery near a tractor;
- and
- providing power to the tractor from the first second-life battery through an electrical connection.
A system for providing power to a tractor with a second-life battery, comprising:
- a testing system configured to:
- define a target state-of-health (SOH) range, the target SOH range being below a predetermined minimum SOH value for powering an electric vehicle and above a predetermined minimum SOH value for powering a tractor;
- conduct SOH testing on a plurality of second-life batteries previously used on electric vehicles;
- select a first second-life battery from the plurality of second-life batteries that meets the target SOH range;
- and
- a trailer configured to hold the selected first second-life battery, the trailer having an electrical connection to the tractor to provide power from the selected first second-life battery to the tractor.
A method for providing a second-life battery for use with a tractor, comprising:
- providing a vehicle battery comprising a plurality of battery cells;
- determining a target state-of-health (SOH) range, the target SOH range having as a lower limit a predetermined minimum SOH value for powering a tractor and having as an upper limit a predetermined minimum SOH value for powering an electric vehicle;
- conducting a SOH test on each of the plurality of battery cells;
- comparing a SOH result value for each of the SOH tests to the target SOH range;
- selecting one or more battery cells with a SOH result value that falls within the target SOH range;
- removing the selected one or more battery cells from the vehicle battery;
- repackaging the selected one or more battery cells in a second-life battery;
- and
- using the second-life battery to provide power to a tractor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.