Nissan partners with Ecobat to repurpose electric vehicle batteries

The partnership will investigate how to recover, repair and repurpose used electric vehicle batteries from UK salvage operators for second-life applications, Ecobat said.

Nissan and Ecobat are investigating how electric vehicle (EV) batteries from Nissan LEAFs that are no longer on the road can be located within the UK salvage network and then recovered, repaired, recycled or repurposed. 

Ecobat said the partnership aims to create a sustainable circular energy economy for end-of-life EV batteries. The project is also part of Nissan’s goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 across its operations and the lifecycle of its products.

The Strategic Pilot Agreement will also investigate ways of commercialising the process of locating, safely transporting, dismantling, repairing and repurposing EV batteries for second-life usage, Ecobat said.

The battery recycling firm said Nissan could sell these repurposed products with an official manufacturer warranty.

Alan Low, EV Battery Circular Economy Manager at Nissan Energy Services, commented: “We are working together with Ecobat to assess how we engage with salvage operators, manage transportation, test, repair and reuse electric vehicle batteries in order to understand the commercial value chain.

“These are batteries from cars that have been dismantled due to old age or that have been written off by insurers, however, the batteries themselves still have an opportunity to be reused. They still have a useful life ahead of them, so we need to create a sustainable way of recovering them.”

They (EV batteries) still have a useful life ahead of them, so we need to create a sustainable way of recovering them.

Ecobat said that once it locates the batteries it will assess and recover them at its Darlaston base, near Birmingham, using specialist vehicles.

From there, Ecobat said further checks will be carried out based on Nissan’s processes to determine the batteries’ long-term safety and performance.

The companies will assess the battery energy storage systems, including the emergency power backup and power balancing, and mobile power charging systems. Batteries that don’t make the grade will be safely prepared for recycling, Ecobat said.

Ecobat said its UK Diagnostic and Disassembly Centre has processed over 6,000 batteries and performance-graded more than 14,000 modules since it opened in 2021. The company will open its third Li-Ion recycling facility in the UK this year.

Tom Seward, EU Key Accounts Director (Northern & UK) at Ecobat Solutions UK Ltd, said: “We provide a specialist offering for battery handling, with highly skilled engineers that are trained to work on high voltage batteries, in full compliance with UK battery regulations.

“This is a critical piece of the EV sustainability picture that has real environmental benefits. We even recover any energy stored in the salvaged battery and use it to provide power to the onsite EV charger network at our site.”