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We are a team of graduate students at the University of Cambridge developing a low-cost, open-source testing kit that measures the state-of-health of lithium-ion cells.
Our device enables the user to assess the state-of-health of cylindrical 18650 cells, through Incremental Capacity Analysis.
Combined with custom data-driven methods, still-viable, used cells can be employed for second-life applications.

Circular economy of lithium-ion batteries

Second life involves the re-use and re-purposing of battery packs after their first use. Enabling second life can improve the circularity of critical materials, reduce energy consumption and make manufacturing processes more sustainable.

Second-life cells can be used for different applications according to their capacity

With the rapid growth of the electric vehicle (EV) market, there is an increasing supply of used batteries that no longer meet the criteria for use in EVs. However, the cells of these batteries still meet the standards for less demanding applications, such as energy storage.

Adapted from Drax.com

Individual cells of similar performance can be grouped together to form new batteries.

Lifetime provides technology that can be used to group cells with similar capacities together. Cells can be grouped into different bands within 5% charge capacity of each other. Grouping of cells is key for building efficient second life packs, as one weak cell could compromise the entire battery’s performance.

Our solution contributes towards a healthy and sustainable future as specified in the UN Sustainable Development Goals.