Battery specialists Infinitev have announced a new partnership with Kia that aims to accelerate the rate in which lithium-ion battery packs used for electric vehicles are recycled and repurposed here in Australia.
The partnership is said to leverage four-decades worth of Infinitev’s specialist knowledge and equipment in the Australian recycling landscape, combined with Kia’s increasingly strong push toward sustainable technology in its passenger vehicles.
Once a battery is retired, Infinitev’s process kicks off with a safety check, and then moves to the proprietary HealthCheck phase which grades certain cells on their potential for reuse.
The company breaks them down into three grades, from A-to-C.
Grade A modules are reused to build new battery cells for EV traction, while grade B modules are repurposed into battery energy storage systems.
Grade C modules are reduced down to their raw parts, with any valuable rare earth minerals and cells recovered and resold.
“Our innovative reuse approach ensures that the transition to a circular economy is not only sustainable but also reduces waste and preserves valuable resources,” says Infinitev’s GM, Dickson Leow.
“Through responsible battery management, we can accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles and build a greener Australia,” Leow added.
Kia says that it is aiming to kick-start a program that will see every single battery powering an electric vehicle to be refurbished at the end of its lifespan.
“What happens to an electric vehicle battery at the end of its life is an important consideration when it comes to EV buyers, so this is a very significant program,” says Kia’s CEO, Damien Meredith.
“We are currently in the very early stages of developing a solution tailored to Kia customers that will allow their electric vehicle batteries to be refurbished instead of discarded,” he added.
