A new life: electric bus makers explore secondary-usage battery possibilities

Anyone who’s ever owned a smartphone or laptop will be familiar with one of lithium-ion technology’s inherent problems: the drain on capacity over time. When functioning normally, ions flow from anode to cathode, but when charging a battery, the process is reversed. This wears out the cathode, meaning the battery can no longer hold the charge it once did, and what’s true for the smartphone is equally applicable to the electric vehicle and its range.