Prototype can test, sort used battery cells

With the help of funding from Innovate UK, a project that has been underway since May 2021 has developed an automated system that can detect the health of individual cells taken from end-of-life battery products, including electric vehicles (EVs) and sort them accordingly. The project team includes expertise from Aceleron, Innvotek Ltd., MEV and Brunel Innovation Centre Cells. 

According to the partners battery cells with a state of health greater than 70 percent can be repurposed for further use rather than being recycled.

The system, which relies on a combination of robotics, software and automation, has the potential to significantly reduce the unnecessary waste of the raw materials used to build batteries, according to a news release from Aceleron. 

Aceleron, Birmingham, England, designs and builds what it says are the only batteries that can be taken apart for servicing, repair and upgrade, reducing battery waste and creating a battery with the chance of an infinite lifespan.  

Innvotek Ltd., Cambridge, England, specializes in the automation of inspection, maintenance and the digitization of processes.

MEV, Stockport, England, is an ultrasonics specialist company that provides equipment and expertise in operating systems and bespoke application software.

Brunel Innovation Centre, London, supplies academic research that can be transferred into industrial applications. The center also developed the ultrasonic inspection technique that the process uses.

Carlton Cummins, Aceleron chief technology officer (CTO) and co-founder, says, ‘“The average EV battery uses over 3,000 individual cells. When that battery reaches the end of its life, we estimate that at least half of the cells will still have a state of health higher than 80 percent.” 

He adds, “As we increasingly turn to electricity to power our lives, the issue of battery waste is of serious concern, and this new system has the potential to preserve cells that would otherwise have been discarded. With lithium shortages being forecast as soon as 2035, this machine has enormous potential to preserve what is left and ensure that we maximize the use of the raw materials used to make battery products.”

Michael Corsar, CTO at Innvotek, adds, “It has been a pleasure to work on this project. Although recycling batteries preserves some of the materials, it is not a particularly environmentally friendly process, so using our automation skills to develop a product that has the potential to reduce battery waste so significantly has been a rewarding experience for the team.”

The project partners say they hope to secure further funding to refine the technology and develop more systems so that more useable cells can be repurposed in future.