It is a fact that electric vehicles (EVs) are beneficial for climate protection. However, the current challenge is to decide on whether to reuse an EV battery or to recycle it after its first use. This paper theoretically investigates these areas i.e., recycle and reuse. It was found that there are several commercially used recycling processes and also some are under research to regain maximum possible materials and quantity. The concept of reusing (second life) of the battery is promising because, at the end of the first life, batteries from EVs can be used in several applications such as storing energy generated from renewable sources to support the government grid. However, the cost and life-cycle analysis (LCA) demonstrated that there are several aspects involved in battery reuse applications. Henceforth, one LCA generalised method cannot provide an optimal approach for all cases. It is important to have a detailed study on each of the battery reusing applications. Until then, it is safe to say that reusing the battery is a good option as it would give some time to recycling companies to develop cost and energy-efficient methods.

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This study presents an optimal control strategy for the electronic interface of a wind energy conversion system based on a permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG). A linear optimal control is used on the grid side of the interface to ensure a proper power transfer and a linear parameter-varying (LPV) control on the machine side to cope with the wide operating conditions demanded by the wind turbine applications. The dynamics of a PMSG working in a variable speed wind turbine is affected by the rotational speed of the wind rotor. The LPV control uses the generator speed as a scheduling variable to adapt itself to different operating conditions. The proposed scheme results in a multi-variable self-scheduled controller with a PI structure similar to classical approaches. Thus, the control ensures performance and stability in all possible operating conditions whereas the implementation and the numerical stability are similar to previous schemes. The proposed control has been implemented in a test bench that includes a fully-rated back-to-back converter. The experimental results show a good performance in different scenarios in which the controller has to adapt itself to highly varying operating conditions.

Nowadays, batteries for electric vehicles are expected to have a high energy density, allow fast charging and maintain long cycle life, while providing affordable traction, and complying with stringent safety and environmental standards. Extensive research on novel materials at cell level is hence needed for the continuous improvement of the batteries coupled towards achieving these requirements. This article firstly delves into future developments in electric vehicles from a technology perspective, and the perspective of changing end-user demands. After these end-user needs are defined, their translation into future battery requirements is described. A detailed review of expected material developments follows, to address these dynamic and changing needs. Developments on anodes, cathodes, electrolyte and cell level will be discussed. Finally, a special section will discuss the safety aspects with these increasing end-user demands and how to overcome these issues.

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