Shift Magazine - November 25, 2019 - 6

WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE
U.S. offering big bucks to boost recycling of lithium ion batteries
BY ALEXA ST. JOHN

T

hey power not only electric cars
but also our cellphones and
myriad other consumer devices.
But just 5 percent of lithium ion
batteries are recycled, and the search is on
for ways to make sure these batteries, and
the valuable materials they contain, return
to the nation's supply chain.
The U.S. Department of Energy, in collaboration with the National Renewable
Energy Laboratory, is hoping to accelerate efforts to collect, store and transport
spent and discarded lithium ion batteries
through its Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling
Prize. It's part of DOE's "American-Made
Challenges" contest series.
The idea of the $5.5 million prize is to
encourage entrepreneurs and others to
find innovative ways to capture 90 percent
of the spent lithium-based batteries in the
U.S. and recover 90 percent of the key
materials, such as cobalt and lithium, from
the collected batteries.

A $5.5 million prize could spur the retrieval
of valuable materials from spent batteries.

VALUABLE
COMPONENTS
Some of the materials that can be
extracted from lithium ion batteries
Cobalt * Nickel * Manganese

"They are hazardous to the environment,
but they contain a significant amount of
valuable material that can be re-fed back to
the supply chain," said Lei Pan, a Michigan
Technological University assistant professor of chemical engineering focusing on
battery recycling.
Some teams are tackling collection challenges. Others are focused on separation
and sorting, safe storage and transport,
or "reverse logistics" - minimizing the
cost of moving batteries out of end users'
hands to recycling facilities.
The competition launched in February.
Fifteen teams passed the first round in
late September, based on their business
concepts.
Those teams are participating in the
second round, which focuses on proofs
of concept. Those selected after this yearlong phase will design a real-world pilot
of their technology in the third and final
phase, which will take 15 months. n

EV CHARGING, UNPLUGGED
BY MARCUS AMICK

I

t was a rare opportunity, available to just
200 BMW customers in California.
In August, the German automaker said
it would offer inductive charging pads to
select lessees of its 530e plug-in hybrid,
expanding to the U.S. a pilot program that
started in Germany in 2018.
It's one of many signs of a growing interest in the wireless technology, which could
help drive wider adoption of electrified vehicles globally.
Wireless vehicle charging is similar to
wireless phone charging. To begin a session, the vehicle is parked over a pad.
WiTricity, a U.S.-based company that
specializes in wireless power transfer over
distances, has partnered with Green Power,

6

shift * november 2019

Wireless charging via inductive pads
could make EVs more appealing.

a South Korea-based supplier of wireless
charging systems, in a push to become a global
supplier of wireless EV charging systems.
WiTricity is behind a combination wireless
charging system and automated valet parking system unveiled by Hyundai Motor Co.
and Kia Motors Corp. in a video released in
January. The automakers plan to commercialize the technology with the launch of a
Level 4 autonomous vehicle around 2025.
Lexus highlighted its plans to produce
electric vehicles with wireless charging
capabilities with the debut of its LF-30 concept at this year's Tokyo Motor Show.
To date, the BMW wireless EV charging
pilot project is the only one of its kind in the
U.S. n
Shift Magazine - November 25, 2019

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