BLOGPOSTS

As part of the SeaTrace project, HSSMI and MarinTrust brought together key stakeholders to discuss the challenges in the supply chain, technology gaps and how to overcome them, providing a foundation upon which to explore how modern technologies for traceability can be implemented in marine.

HSSMI has joined Ultramax in a six-month study called Li-BAR to determine the feasibility of establishing co-located battery pack assembly and remanufacturing facilities. It is anticipated that co-locating the sites will provide opportunities to optimally use batteries throughout their lives.

The development of non-destructive inline testing machines and procedures will enable manufacturers to employ a no-faults-forward principle, thereby reducing costs invested in failed parts, limiting unnecessary waste and optimising the number of FA&T (formation, ageing and testing) channels.

To understand the impact battery design has on the costs associated with different battery recovery methods and their economic feasibility, HSSMI developed a battery lifecycle cost estimation methodology as part of the VALUABLE project.

By 2040, there will be a need for 140 GWh in battery cell capacity, equivalent to five Gigafactories. Currently however, there is only 3 GWh of production in the UK and, by 2030, just a further 45 GWh planned, leaving a major gap – over 95 GWh – between the forecasted supply and demand.

Implementing DfEoL principles into battery assembly, and keeping in mind the potential to disassemble a product and recover materials and value at its end of life, could present an attractive opportunity to OEMs if the control of the battery and its remaining value were to be retained with the OEM.