Axeon awarded funding to study recycling and re-use of EV batteries

7 July 2011

UK-based Li-ion battery system producer Axeon is one of six British companies to receive a share of nearly £500,000 (US$798,000) in funding from the Technology Strategy Board for feasibility studies into the recycling and re-use of batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles. As well as researching the recycling process, the project will look at how to determine end-of-life.

The Axeon-led project, which looks into the economic viability of automotive battery recycling in the UK, involves Oxford Brookes University as a partner. It will define the context in which battery recycling must take place, including the legal issues, as well as develop the recycling process and work out the business model for recycling end-of-life batteries.

The project ultimately aims to develop a UK battery recycling industry for end-of-life automotive batteries, which is non-existent at the moment. Axeon and Oxford Brookes University will seek to involve various organizations throughout the UK automotive supply chain in order to create a viable and sustainable business model for battery recycling.

Axeon will also develop a thorough and statistically-robust process for determining when batteries have reached their end of life and are ready to be recycled.