Old laptop batteries could power slums in India, claims a new study - electricity storage

A new study found that abandoned laptop batteries still have enough life to power slums in India and other developing countries.
The study, published at a conference in San Jose, USA, analyzed a sample of discarded batteries and found that 70 batteries had enough power to turn on LED lights for more than four hours a day during the year.
According to IBM researchers in India, it is estimated that 50 million of lithium
Ion laptop batteries discarded each year can provide enough power storage for light-duty families in developing countries.
According to the MIT technical review, it is possible to combine LED lights with solar panels and rechargeable batteries, but the use of discarded batteries may make this method cheaper.
"The most expensive parts of these systems are usually batteries," said Vikas Chandan, a research scientist at the lab smart energy group that led the project.
"In this case, the most expensive part of your storage solution comes from garbage," Chandan said . ".
The IBM team opened the discarded laptop battery package and extracted a single storage unit called the battery.
They then tested the batteries individually to pick out the good ones and regroup them to form a refurbished battery pack.
To prevent overheating, they added charging devices and circuits and provided them to five users in Bangalore who live in slums or operate sidewalk carts.
Three months later, the user said the battery pack was working well.