How are retired lithium-ion batteries recycled?

The recycling of retired lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) involves typically pretreatments such as discharging, disassembly, shredding, separation, followed by pyrometallurgical or hydrometallurgical processes to recover active materials. These processes face substantial challenges in efficiently separating materials and achieving high purity levels.

Can lithium-ion batteries be repurposed for electric vehicles?

To avoid severe resource waste and environmental pollution problems, research on the retirement of power lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) for electric vehicles (EVs) has attracted significant attention. Echelon utilization is one of the most prevailing strategies to solve the problems of reusing retired LIBs.

What are lithium-ion batteries & fuel cells?

Renewable energy storage devices such as lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and fuel cells are key technologies. LIBs, in particular, play a central role in this transformative landscape, especially in electric vehicles (EVs) sector.

What is lithium-ion battery recycling?

Recycling lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) has gained prominence in the last decade due to increasing supply chain constraints for critical materials (such as lithium and cobalt) and policy shift toward increased circularity of materials to mitigate environmental concerns.

What are the limitations of researching EV batteries?

Researching EV batteries has its limitations due to confidentiality, especially when it comes to external batteries but also internal. Benchmarking was performed on both internal and external EV battery packs with the help from questions raised during the EF-M modelling session.

How many modules are in a car battery pack?

The battery pack consists of ten modules, divided in two rows and two levels. The lower modules contain 30 cells, and the upper modules contain 24 cells.