Noted newsletter author Christopher Chico wrote about battery remanufacturing and how next-gen technologies like AccelaGrade can enable new business models. We recommend you read the whole thing! Please enjoy this short excerpt.
Battery packs power everything from delivery vans to warehouse forklifts to electric buses.
These packs represent significant capital investments, often accounting for 30-40% of a vehicle’s total cost.
When performance drops below operational thresholds, fleet operators and equipment owners face a decision that directly impacts their bottom line. They can either try to identify and replace faulty components, or simply replace the entire pack.
The conventional response has been full pack replacement.
A battery fails, the entire unit gets swapped, and the old pack enters recycling streams. This approach is straightforward but expensive.
A replacement pack can cost $5,000 to $10,000 for delivery vans and light commercial vehicles, while larger applications like electric buses can reach $25,000 to $50,000 or more.
An alternative exists: first-life remanufacturing.
Instead of replacing entire packs, operators identify and replace only the degraded components. Economics should favor this approach.
Failed cells cost less to replace than complete packs. But the process requires testing every cell individually to determine which ones failed and which remain functional.
That testing creates a problem.
With traditional methods, comprehensive testing is impractical.
Testing every cell individually takes too long. To maintain facility throughput, most remanufacturers must choose between thorough testing that creates bottlenecks or faster approaches that sample subsets and infer the rest.
Sampling keeps packs moving but introduces risk. Missed failures slip through.
Equipment sits idle during qualification. Technician labor accumulates across hours or shifts. Warehouse space fills with batteries waiting for results. Energy costs mount.
If testing takes too long, downtime costs eliminate the savings from component replacement. The “replace entire pack” option becomes more economical simply because it avoids the testing bottleneck.
Testing speed determines if first-life remanufacturing can scale economically.
Battery packs rarely fail completely. Individual cells or modules degrade while the rest remain functional.
According to Autocraft’s 2024 analysis of 559 commercial EV battery repairs, replacing an average of 1.1 modules restored packs to full performance.
The analysis found that in most “failed” packs, 92% of modules remained fit for automotive use. Complete pack replacement was rarely necessary.
The economic logic is clear. Replace the failed components. Keep the rest in service.
That logic breaks when testing takes too long.
Want to continue reading? Read the full article by Christopher Chico on Substack: Battery remanufacturing only works when testing is faster than replacement