A consortium of 11 European companies and research institutes have launched a project to develop new methods for recycling and reusing electric vehicle batteries.
Funded by the European Union, the project ‘BatteReverse’ aims to avoid the use of 3,691 tonnes a year of primary critical raw materials.
Its primary focus is to reduce the time needed for assessing battery packs for reuse or recycling.
Gareth Mcnaughton, Director of Innovation at EIT Urban Mobility which is one of the partners, told Zag Daily the project will help to improve the logistics of micromobility batteries as well as EVs.
“Although we focus on batteries for EVs at this stage, our strategy to address batteries for micromobility will come during the development of the project from reverse logistics guidebooks, sectorial events, to informing about the BatteReverse community. This second part will be adapted to what our findings will confirm.”
Efficient battery handling
A core aim of the BatteReverse project is to develop a Battery Data Space with a QR code labelling system to enable faster identification.
These would go through an automated universal diagnostics tool that combines discharge, state of health (SoH), and state of safety (SoS) characterisation.
The system will then identify batteries that are still in good condition and can be reused, as well as those that need to be recycled.
By performing these assessments in one step, the project aims to shorten the classification time from 48 hours to eight hours.
Additionally, BatteReverse aims to design a tool that can handle 80% of EV battery voltage ranges, reducing the need for custom tools for different battery types.
Project Coordinator Marianne Chami said: “BatteReverse revolutionises battery reverse logistics through efficient methods for discharge and diagnosis, safer packaging with monitoring, automated dismantling, and sorting via human-robot collaboration.
“It enables precise assessment of battery life for second-life applications using acoustic testing and machine learning. Additionally, a Battery Data Space improves identification with standardised labelling and passport features.”
EU initiative
BatteReverse is part of the European Union’s efforts to reduce its reliance on imported raw materials. It has dedicated €4 million to the 42-month project, funded under the Horizon Europe Programme.
The European Commission has set a target of recycling 95% of all batteries by 2035.
Led by the French research institute CEA, the project also counts on Fundacio Eurecat, TES Recupyl SAS, Skoda Auto, EIT Urban Mobility, Frontier Innovations EE, Sieć Badawcza Łukasiewicz – Poznański Instytut Technologiczny, Bax & Company, Betteries AMPS and Denios SE.
