**2. Methodology proposed**

Recycling processes in Ecuador are still in an early process. According to 2017 demographic statistics only four percent of the total garbage generated in Ecuador was recycled. This was the last year statistics about waste disposal were published. It's not clear how much of this four percent of recycled material has a second life process but most of it it's just simply classified, turned into pallets and sent recycling facilities. In the case of steel, paper and glass, these raw materials are processed in local companies and for most other material such as plastic, aluminum and electronics are sent to recycling facilities in countries overseas.

Such is the case of hybrid modules extracted from hybrid vehicles. Now a days a battery is not a whole individual pack as we seen before with Lead acid batteries but rather a composition or various cells. These cells can actually be replaced in case they are damaged prematurely and will give the whole battery pack a new life. This change will allow the rest of the cells to complete their life span as they may not have been affected. This practice is not sponsored by the manufacturer for safety and commercial purposes, but in this section, we will discuss a methodology proposed in Ecuador to properly and safely do a restoration for the battery de NiHm presents in HEV in order to prolong its life and generate a second life system for using as additional power supply.

The proposed methodology consists of 5 stages (**Figure 3**). The first stage involves the removal of the defective NiHm battery pack from the vehicles, this involves searching for cars with these problems and battery packs that are in recycling shops or automotive dealers. The second stage consists in disarming the batteries to check their shape and discard internal failure or explosion of the cell. In the third stage, the batteries are tested to check their health and charge state, this allows establishing a battery classification and verifying whether or not it is useful in a second life process. Stage four, generates processes for the assembly of battery packs with reestablished cells and the reconfiguration of different elements such as the BMS and the recharging system. Finally, stage 5 shows the implementation of battery packs that can be used as an additional power source in different applications.

**Figure 3.**

*Methodology proposed for implementation of SLB in Ecuador.*

**Figure 4.** *Methods for obtain and retired battery packs NiHm.*

### **2.1 Retired battery packs**

In this stage we must consider several aspects; the consumer is the first link to building a methodology towards car batteries second life in Ecuador. As the number of HEV grow, costumers of such goods have to be aware of the life span of the battery an of how they should be disposed of after they have completed their life cycle in the vehicle. Costumer should understand that under any circumstance they are not allowed to take their battery home unless they have a special permission to do it. To reinforce this practice, among costumers, applied should be applied policies of change of battery generated by the brand with a presence in the country and laws by part of government that allow good process of recycling for these components. In order to obtain batteries, it is necessary to link with local companies that offer battery replacement and with the dealers of the different brands, in addition to the recycling warehouses, which have these batteries but do not know their origin. All these actions are presented in the **Figure 4**.

#### **2.2 Disassemble battery packs**

The stage involves the battery disassembly process (**Figure 5**), considering different safety standards, procedures and steps are generated to follow for disassembling the different types of batteries and recycling of parts.

### **2.3 Proof of battery packs**

This stage consists of carrying out different charging and discharging processes to select the batteries that are in good condition and carry out a process of cell

*The Second Life of Hybrid Electric Vehicles Batteries Methodology of Implementation in Ecuador DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99058*

**Figure 5.** *Battery disassembly process.*

**Figure 6.** *Process of selection and battery test.*

classification (**Figure 6**). These processes will allow the cells to be classified into three categories, A good condition, B intermediate condition, C damaged cells.
