Day Two at the Conference: Exploring New Frontiers in Automotive Recycling

Day 2 of the conference dove into the nitty-gritty of automotive recycling, emphasizing EV battery management, safety considerations, testing protocols, and the industry's need for standardization.

The insights shed light on the current challenges and future opportunities in the rapidly evolving electrification landscape.

Battery Management for Automotive Recyclers

Scott Robertson JR (Owner, Robertson's Auto Salvage):

• Emphasized that the salvage yard industry is misunderstood, actually carbon negative.
• Believes EV batteries should remain in the US.
• Spoke about the desire of OEMs to get their batteries back and restricting battery information.

Emil Nusbaum, JD, CIPP/US (VP Government and Regulatory Affairs, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) ):

• Stressed the auto industry as a critical economic driver.
• Discussed the predictability and recyclability of vehicles and how EV challenges this.

Linda Gaines (Systems Analyst at Argonne National Laboratory ):

• Best analogy yet: Articulating the challenge of recycling batteries as “Shredding a battery is like putting a Victoria Sponge Cake in a blender and trying to separate the cream back out.”
• Advocated for thoughtful battery design, uniformity, and standardization.

Discussion Points:

• Strong endorsement for Battery Passport.
• Emphasis on Battery State of Health (SoH) and divorcing it from vehicle condition.

Safety Considerations in Handling Used Batteries

Brian Engle ( Amphenol Advanced Sensors ): Detailed risks in Lithium-Ion Battery Transport and Storage and the global standards being worked on to help first and second responders.

Tyler Helps (Director of Business Development at Spiers New Technologies Inc (SNT) , acquired by Cox Automotive Inc. ): Stressed the short supply of trained electrical workers and the need for simple, modular procedures. (Also had a clever mnemonic for his name!)

Optimizing Testing Protocols for Used EV Battery Recycling

• I participated in this committee, alongside OEMs like GM, specialist battery testing engineers, and battery recycling operators, among others.
• Sharing data with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) could greatly reduce battery waste and prevent the marketing of known defective batteries as "good" or "unknown" on public platforms.
• The industry is keen on a plug-in device that can connect to a battery module and provide a PASS/FAIL or score regarding the battery's State of Health (SoH) — this would necessitate communication with the on-board battery manager, which is proprietary per OEM, and therefore most likely a pipe dream.
• Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) methods for batteries include 3D X-Ray (Computed Tomography) and Ultrasound, but these techniques have limitations, may not detect all issues, and can be both expensive and time-consuming.
• [Nerdy Factoid] Cryogenic Resistance Testing: It involves freezing a cell and testing the voltage across terminals. If resistance is still present, there's an issue.

Interesting Points

Everything is nascent.

Batteries serve EVs.?Overwhelmingly.?Therefore, EV value predictability is key to a stable market, which will flow to battery value chain and suppliers too.

Battery State of Health (SoH) is especially important for automotive lending.?A lender wants to limit loan life to useful battery life, especially for used BEVs! (Why give a 5 year car loan for an EV with only 3 years of useful battery life left?)

Lithium Ion (Li-Ion) batteries. Six main types, two common in EVs:

• NCA: Lithium Nickel Cobalt Aluminum oxide; highest specific energy and a long lifecycle. Tesla uses for most vehicles, except base Model 3.
• LFP: Lithium Iron (Fe) Phosphate; uses phosphate as cathode, graphitic carbon electrode as anode. Long life cycles, good thermal stability, but low specific energy.?Tesla uses for base Model 3.

Biggest channel for repurposed batteries: eBay, pointing to a market that is still in its infancy and seeking structure.

Final Thoughts

Day 2 started with a more practical review of automobile reuse and recycling, by the people who do the work today. So much is new and growing quickly, with novel considerations around battery SoH, and keen observations from major industry players. I got a glimpse into a future filled with enormous economic opportunities, national security considerations, and unmet, complex challenges.

The conference may have just finished, but the conversations started here are only the start.