Yesterday, the 2022 cohort of Sensor CDT students presented their Team Challenge project 'Lifetime' at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology. The hour-long presentation demonstrated a solution to the extremely wasteful practices that surround rechargeable lithium-ion battery packs when they reach the end of their service lives in Electric Vehicles. The technology created by the CDT students could massively reduce the number of battery cells that end up as landfill in Low and Middle Income Countries.
The team has created a 'toolbox' that tests the health of lithium-ion battery cells using datasets from Oxford University and NASA in order to determine the cell's suitability for a second life application in stationary energy storage. The current prototype has enough slots to test 8 cells simultaneously.
In addition to the hardware, the team has also created a phone app that allows a user to connect to the 'toolbox' and read the results of the system's test.
The team will be presenting their project again at Sensor Day on October 11th.
Find out more about the team's work on their website: