What happens to an EV battery when it reaches the end of its life? It's re-born!

The destiny of batteries is not landfill, but to be recycled to extract the critical minerals and go into new products.

Although in its infancy, this is an industry with an exciting future ahead of it. On reaching end-of-life, batteries can be discharged, dismantled and shredded to produce black mass, a rich source of critical minerals such as lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese. If profitably extracted and processed, we can de-risk the UK’s battery supply chain and support the creation of a self-sustaining, globally competitive industry.

In 2022, Altilium Clean Technology, a leading company operating in this space, secured funding, delivered through our own Automotive Transformation Fund, to advance it’s game-changing, proprietary recycling technology.

Listen to this interview with Dr Christian Marston, President and COO of Altilium, about how the company is pushing ahead with its hydrometallurgical extraction technique to recover over 95% of the critical metals found in black mass.

Why did BMW choose a team of British small businesses and academics to design the next-generation of inverters for its battery electric vehicles? Energy and transport journalist David James interviews David Bock, BMW Technical Lead on the £26 million @FutureBEV project, who explains it's down to the UK's expertise in power electronics.

“If you can make the parts simpler, you reduce the cost, you improve the reliability and you make it more accessible. And that was very important in the project", he said. It marked BMW’s transition to SiC-based power electronics in its future generations of battery electric vehicle (BEV) and laid the foundation for 100kW/l inverters, significantly exceeding industry targets.

The collaborative project not only delivered from an R&D perspective, but helped strengthen the UK supply chain in this emergent technology. As part of the consortium, academic and SME partners were able to demonstrate UK R&D capabilities, which impressed the BMW team in Munich.

As a result of the project, the University of Warwick has built a world-leading testing facility for power electronics and attracted interest from other OEMs, such as JLR. Custom Interconnect, which manufactures the inverter and power module, was also able to attract new customers thanks to its involvement on the project.

The design for the inverter was created by Lyra and Compound Semiconductor Applications (CSA) Catapult, strengthening the supply chain for power electronics in the UK.

The project has also been a platform for graduates and interns to develop their knowledge of power electronics, helping to build up their expertise for future roles and grow the industry. @FutureBEV was a £26 million project which received £13 million in government grant funding through the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK.

What is an e-turbo? What's a turbo doing in a hydrogen fuel cell powertrain?

Transport and energy journalist David James visits Laith Al-kazaz, Advanced Engineering Director at Cummins to learn about this technology, developed by a £20 million project to capture wasted energy and put it back into use.

Known as 'Trident', this project aimed to increase efficiency in hydrogen fuel cells through the development of an e-turbo, a vital component to help decarbonise heavy-duty vehicles.

The project has had wider impacts on Cummins’ conventional turbos, with projected savings of approximately 200 million tonnes of CO2 over the next 10 years.

Trident received £10 million in government grant funding through the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK.