High-voltage batteries have been repaired at the competence center for batteries in Hoyerswerda since 2022. This is much more cost-effective than a new battery and more sustainable. This expertise can also be used for other services. In focus: battery dismantling.
"It makes no difference whether we open a battery and then repair it or dismantle it in order to prepare it for alternative uses or recycling. The safety requirements are the same. By dismantling batteries, we can offer our customers a complete package covering the entire life cycle of a battery," explains Gunnar Grohmann, Team Leader Battery Technology at Leadec in Hoyerswerda. So far, several hundred batteries have already been dismantled there.
In general, there are three options for high-voltage batteries that can no longer be installed in vehicles. They can be reused in another area, recycled or remanufactured.
Batteries that have been carefully tested and are in a good state of health (SOH) are suitable for second-life applications. This means that the battery modules can be used in energy storage systems to compensate for voltage fluctuations in renewable energies such as photovoltaics.
For recycling, the batteries are dismantled down to module level. The removed modules are collected and shredded by specialized companies. The aim is to recover valuable ingredients such as lithium from the so-called black mass and return them to the material cycle.
"We really live the circular economy and it includes all materials. All components such as circuit boards, power rails etc. are recycled separately," adds Gunnar Grohmann.
At present, it is mainly used batteries that are recycled. Gunnar Grohmann sees great potential in new batteries that are never used due to faults in production: "There are 30-50 percent of new batteries that are out of production. These could be repaired, which is not (yet) being done for warranty reasons, or they could be dismantled to be reintroduced into the cycle."
Battery remanufacturing (ReMan) is currently on the rise. In remanufacturing, for example, modules are removed from three less powerful batteries and recombined to create a battery that reaches at least 90% of its charging capacity.
"I am convinced that ReMan will be one of the key topics in battery technology in the coming years. Because remanufactured batteries are interesting for used e-vehicles. The battery accounts for around a third of the cost of a new car. That is far too expensive for a used car. Here, remanufactured batteries can be a real alternative and we can significantly expand our services," says Gunnar Grohmann.
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