Repairing Broken Lithium Batteries Feasible?

A while ago a PhD in fuel cell technology wondered “why do they make lithium batteries that way. Why do they stick them together so there’s no possibility of repairing broken lithium batteries at all?” He had actually stumbled over an important issue. Because when one cell fails, we end up recycling many more perfectly good ones.

Repairing Broken Lithium Batteries Should Be Possible

In theory, replacing one dud lithium cell in a battery should be real easy. However manufacturers make repairing broken lithium batteries almost impossible. They weld and glue them tightly together so it’s impossible to access individual cells, man-with-a-mission Amrit Chandan explains.

It’s a lot like a safe, he explained to Wired website. “You open it, you destroy it and you can’t put it back together. You can’t repair it. That’s it.” It’s surprising somebody did not think about this before. Ubiquitous lithium batteries are everywhere: in phones, devices, laptops, electric cars, and even Mars rovers. We’d love to know why lithium battery manufacturers build them this way, although we understand batteries must be robust.

Tesla Model S Battery Teardown

A Perfectly Ordinary Solution Cracks the Code

Amrit Chandan teamed with mechanical engineer Carlton Cummins, in order to find a solution. He was becoming increasingly concerned so many batteries were going to scrap when they had useful life left.

The two enthusiasts spent months disassembling batteries. They were determined to find ways of repairing broken lithium batteries which they realized lay in redesign. Finally, Carlton Cummins figured a way to achieve this, by using compression to hold the battery cells together.

“You take a cell out, and replace it with a new one.” Chandan proudly explains. “We extract all of the value from the cells, which are no longer thrown away when they still work.” They hope to bring the cost-saving technology to Africa and the Caribbean, Wired Advises.

China Electric Car Makers to Recycle Old Batteries

Piles of Spent Lithium Batteries like Old Tires

Preview Image: Single Lithium-Ion Cell

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