The Volkswagen Group creates BattMan to give a second life to electric car batteries
Fear not, neighbor, because BattMan is already here. But this BattMan resides in Salzgitter, North Germany, and not in Gotham. He is also not a billionaire with a worrisome approach to dealing with childhood trauma, but rather we are talking about the new “ Battery Monitoring Analysis Necessity ” software from the Volkswagen Group that will help the company recycle automotive batteries.
The question is on the minds of everyone interested in electric mobility: what happens to the battery when an electric vehicle has reached the end of its useful life? The answer is easy: the new BattMan ReLife analysis software checks your health in just a few minutes. This quick check system will be used as an initial diagnostic means in battery recycling at the pilot plant that Volkswagen Group Components has been operating in Salzgitter since the beginning of the year.
Initially developed by Audi as a battery diagnostic tool for the e-tron, the software has been repurposed as a quick way to check the health and lifespan of car batteries to facilitate recycling - kind of like Duracell batteries. Powerchecks that you could squash with your thumbs to check the remaining battery life, but much more advanced. The software will soon be used by experts from the German firm in its first recycling plant for its batteries.
Roughly speaking, operators connect a device with software to the battery's low-voltage connectors and can detect details such as general errors, insulation resistance, its capacity, optimal operating temperatures, and the voltages of each cell . Once the battery test has concluded, the company has presented the three options for its EV batteries to reach the end of their useful life with a new perspective and more years to live.
"We can measure the most important parameters of a cell," says Axel Vanden Branden , a quality engineer at Audi Brussels. “Then, a kind of traffic light indicates the status cell by cell: green means that it is in good condition; yellow, which requires a closer inspection; and red that the cell does not work ”. Based on the test results, the battery can be reused for another vehicle if it is in good condition . If it is not suitable for another Volkswagen, it can be reconditioned and sent for use in other things.
Items such as a forklift truck or a mobile cargo robot. However, if the battery is in very bad shape, it can simply be recycled into its basic materials , such as aluminum, copper, plastics, and something called “black powder”.
This dust welcomes materials such as lithium, nickel, manganese, cobalt and graphite, which can be extracted from the battery and used again in others. "We know that recycled battery materials are just as effective as new ones," said Frank Blome, director of battery systems at Volkswagen Group Components.
"The development of BattMan ReLife is a great example of the success of cooperation between the various brands of the Volkswagen Group," says Volker Germann , CEO of Audi Brussels.
Source: Volkswagen
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