Postdoc: Second-Life Batteries for Urban DC Traction Grids

Delft; Delft; On-site; EUR 42,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

TU Delft’s Department of Electrical Sustainable Energy invites applications for a Postdoctoral Researcher to advance repurposing end-of-life batteries for second-life energy storage and high-power EV charging within urban DC traction grids.

The role emphasizes battery degradation, state-of-health estimation, diagnostics, and integration within microgrids and pilots, coordinating with EU partners across GRID4CITY in the DUT program.

Qualifications

• PhD in Electrical Engineering or related field with a strong independent research track record.
• Solid background in batteries, battery management systems, SoX modeling, thermal management and lifetime estimation; ability to develop experimental setups.
• Experience with modeling, simulating and building experimental setups related to Batteries SoX, AC/DC Grids, EV charging.
• Experience managing large projects with partners, planning, and budgets is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Repurpose end-of-first-life electric bus and IMC batteries as second-life energy storage; study degradation and cell-to-cell variations.
• Analyze impact of chemistry, aging history, operating profiles, and pack architecture on performance for second-life energy storage using a Digital Twin.
• Investigate how traction grids can support high-power charging at construction sites via optimal sizing of chargers and mobile storage; develop energy-management strategies.
• Contribute to pilots demonstrating Traction-to-Building microgrids and mobile charging solutions using trolleybus networks as energy sources.
• Coordinate research activities with EU partners; organize tasks, meetings, dissemination of knowledge, and project pilots in the Netherlands and Poland.

Skills

Batteries

Battery management

SoX modeling

Thermal management

Education

PhD in Electrical Engineering

Tools

AC Grids

DC Grids

EV charging

Job description

TU Delft’s Department of Electrical Sustainable Energy invites applications for a Postdoctoral Researcher to advance repurposing end-of-life batteries for second-life energy storage and high-power EV charging within urban DC traction grids.

The role emphasizes battery degradation, state-of-health estimation, diagnostics, and integration within microgrids and pilots, coordinating with EU partners across GRID4CITY in the DUT program.