With electric vehicles entering the mainstream, end-of-life battery management is becoming an urgent concern for auto recyclers. Scott Packard, VP of Business Development at Smartville, outlines emerging tools and practices that help assess and process used Electric Vehicle (EV) batteries, highlighting practical strategies for safely identifying value and enabling reuse in stationary energy applications.
As electric vehicle adoption rapidly increases, one question looms large for the auto recycling community: What happens to EV batteries once they leave the road?
Founded in 2019 out of the University of California, San Diego, Smartville Inc. was built to answer that question, not just for the environment’s sake, but for the economic opportunity buried within every retired EV battery. Spearheaded by co-founder Dr. Antoni Tong and backed by more than $26 million in federal and state grants, Smartville has emerged as a U.S. leader in giving EV batteries a valuable second life.
For those in the automotive recycling industry, this is more than just a sustainability story; it’s a new business model taking shape in real time.
From Waste to Watts
Smartville’s core innovation lies in its ability to repurpose second-life EV batteries into stationary and mobile Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS). These systems are deployed in commercial buildings, data centers, and alongside solar infrastructure, giving batteries a productive post-vehicle role in our energy-hungry world.
But what’s most relevant to recyclers is not just the end product, but the process that gets us there.
EV batteries don’t arrive at Smartville’s warehouse with a clean bill of health. They come from collision yards, wholesale auctions, fleet managers, and impound lots, often with unknown histories and questionable conditions. The key challenge lies in sorting the good from the bad, quickly and safely.
Introducing Periscope: A Diagnostic Tool for the Real World
To address this challenge, Smartville developed Periscope, a field-deployable, user-friendly battery assessment tool tailored to the realities of automotive recycling.
Rather than requiring deep technical expertise or expensive infrastructure, Periscope enables recyclers to assess EV battery packs both in-vehicle and post-extraction, identifying critical parameters, such as state of health (SOH), voltage, and fault codes. The scan takes only minutes, and the results are visual, intuitive, and standardized for resale or reuse purposes.
For dismantlers, this is a game changer. In an industry where inventory turnover, safety risk, and value extraction are tightly coupled, the ability to quickly know what a battery is worth, and if it’s safe to touch, can make or break a deal.
Central to the Second-Life Ecosystem
What sets Smartville apart from other battery tech startups is its centrality in the second-life EV battery ecosystem. With active collaborations across recyclers, auto OEMs, utilities, fleet operators, and government agencies, Smartville is not just another player; it’s a node of influence and trust.
Using data collected through Periscope, Smartville is developing a data-informed Marketplace for second-life EV batteries. Here, buyers and sellers can interact with confidence, knowing a verified performance profile accompanies each battery. It’s a model built for scale, and recyclers will be essential suppliers to the market.
Think of it as Carfax, but for EV batteries, with the added benefit of a ready-made customer base and data-rich battery reports.
A New Revenue Stream for Recyclers
For recyclers, the financial incentive is compelling. Recovered EV batteries aren’t just waste, they’re value-dense assets that can be resold for repurposers to use in everything from solar microgrids to backup power stations.
But value only emerges when you have transparency, safety, and standards. That’s where tools like Periscope and partners like Smartville can make all the difference.
By partnering with Smartville, dismantlers can:
- Safely process high-voltage batteries with minimal risk
- Quickly identify batteries suitable for second-life use
- Increase margins through resale vs. raw material recovery
- Tap into a trusted buyer network ready to pay for quality packs
The Future Is Circular
As EV adoption accelerates, the volume of battery packs entering the recycling stream is expected to rise exponentially. Without a robust second-life market, much of this material risks being prematurely shredded or landfilled. However, with the right diagnostic tools, partnerships, and market infrastructure, recyclers can move upstream, becoming gatekeepers of value, rather than just endpoints of disposal.
Smartville’s story is not just one of technological innovation. It’s a blueprint for circular economic thinking, where every EV battery has not one life, but many, and where automotive recyclers play a pivotal role in that transformation.
To learn more about Periscope or how to participate in Smartville’s battery supply program, visit www.smartville.io or follow them on LinkedIn@smartville
