Never fear, BattMan is here!
VW’s “Battery Monitoring Analysis Necessity,” or BattMan, software sets out to help the brand recycle automotive batteries.
First developed as a diagnostic tool for Audi's e-tron, the software was repurposed as an easy way to quickly check the health and life of automotive batteries, making it easier to recycle them.
The software will soon be used at Volkswagen Group Components first battery recycling plant in Salzgitter. Experts will plug the device into low-voltage connectors in the battery which detects errors, insulation resistance, capacity, temperatures, and cell voltages.
Axel Vanden Branden, a quality engineer at Audi Brussels says “we are able to measure all a cell’s most important parameters.”
“Then a traffic light system indicates the status cell by cell – green means a cell is in good order, yellow means it requires closer inspection, and red means the cell is out of order.”
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The test results determine whether the battery is in good enough shape to be reused in another vehicle. If it's not good enough to be used for another VW, it can be repurposed for something like a forklift or mobile charging robot.
But if the battery really isn't good enough to be directly reused, it's parts still can be. Basic materials like plastic, aluminum, and copper can be repurposed into new batteries. As can a substance called "Black Powder". This powder contains materials like nickel, manganese, lithium, cobalt, and graphite, which can be retracted from the battery and given new life in other batteries.
“We know that recycled battery materials are just as effective as new ones,” says head of battery cell and battery systems at Volkswagen Group Components, Frank Blome. “These recycled materials will be used to supply our cell production activities in the future.”