With the anticipated growth in EVs over the next two decades comes the issue of how to recycle the large lithium-ion battery packs that power them. ORNL engineers put together a demonstration to show that robots can accelerate disassembly and make the process safer for workers while greatly increasing throughput.
Only a small percentage of lithium-ion vehicle batteries are recycled today, and the majority of the processes used to do so are not automated, said Tim McIntyre, principal investigator in ORNL’s Electrification and Energy Infrastructures Division.
