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The premium for pure cathode material is expected to increase as battery manufacturers switch to designs that use cheaper raw materials. These include LFP batteries, which contain lithium, iron and phosphorus at the cathode and exclude expensive metals such as nickel and cobalt. Kyburz has long used LFP batteries for its vehicles, and large manufacturers including Tesla are now following suit. But they are not so attractive to recyclers because they are cheap raw materials. “They’re asking for a lot of money to take them,” Groux says.
Removing the cathodes from dead batteries, inexpensively, requires redesigning the batteries from the ground. Gaines pointed out that this has been done earlier, especially with lead-acid batteries, the type used to start conventional car engines. More than 95 percent of lead-acid batteries are recycled. One reason is that manufacturers use standardized designs, which means that recyclers can take any battery and put it into an automated process. Recyclers remove the main components — lead and polyurethane, a type of plastic — and then separate them into containers filled with water. It’s simple: Plastic floats; lead sink.
Lithium-ion batteries are more complicated, involve more parts and materials, and have a greater variety in designs. But still, “you don’t have to be stupid and design the hardest battery to recycle,” says Andy Abbott, a battery researcher at the University of Leicester who studies design that is suitable for recycling. Battery makers have easy ways it can make life easier for disassemblers. They can use screws instead of laser welding, for example, and opt for adhesives that are easier to remove. But making these small changes can be among the most difficult, as Jeff Spangenberger, who runs the ReCell Center, adds small costs to large-scale ones. Spending an extra $ 2 per battery on screws to save $ 1 on deconstructing a battery is not worth it for the producer, as long as they are not responsible for recycling costs.
Groux experienced this problem when he recently researched how to make batteries more powerful with modules in Kyburg. He wanted to seal the batteries with screws, but consulted that almost all Chinese manufacturers used laser welding. However, a company like Kyburz has some advantages. Its vehicles are relatively low-power, designed to travel simultaneously through Swiss villages for a couple of hours at a time, without stopping to cross the Mojave. For the most part, the company uses large cells that do not come in modules, so they are easier to disassemble. This means that Groux’s machine can do the work in a semi-automated way.
Tesla batteries, of course, are much more complicated. But that doesn’t mean they can at least be designed in a way that is more predictable and allows for some kind of automation, Abbott explains. He pointed out “Blade” batteryA new type of LFP battery made by Chinese automaker BYD for its passenger cars as an example of progress. LFP batteries have well-known advantages: they are cheaper than batteries filled with cobalt and nickel, last longer, and are generally less likely to ignite fires. But it was believed that they could not save enough energy to move a car hundreds of miles; so Blade took many observers by surprise.
For Abbott, one of the most exciting design changes is that the battery pack is not split into modules. Instead, the cells are arranged in rows directly inside the package. The cells are long and rectangular – hence the “shovels” – instead of rolls of cylindrical jelly. BYD found that these rectangles can fill more densely than cylinders inside the battery pack, making the overall package stronger. Abbott has not been able to inspect the design directly, but suspects that the simplified design will make it easier to disassemble the batteries. Other companies, including Tesla, have said they plan to produce module-free battery packs, even though the cell designs are different.
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