Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a robotic disassembly system for spent electric vehicle battery packs to recycle and reuse critical materials safely and efficiently while reducing toxic waste. With the anticipated growth in EVs over the next two decades comes the issue of how to recycle the large lithium-ion battery packs that power them. ORNL engineers put together a demonstration to show that robots can accelerate disassembly and make the process safer for workers while greatly increasing throughput. Only a small percentage of lithium-ion vehicle batteries are recycled today, and the majority of the processes used to do so are not automated, said Tim McIntyre, principal investigator in ORNL’s Electrification and Energy Infrastructures Division. Whether a recycler simply wants to get through the outer housing to access batteries and replace worn components, or completely recycle battery stacks for recovery of cobalt, lithium, […]