The EV battery remanufacturing bottleneck caused by six-hour charge/discharge testing can be addressed by rapid diagnostics that assess the state of health in minutes. Using techniques such as electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, ReJoule’s system screens packs in under 15 minutes, cutting labour and energy use while enabling scalable, profitable remanufacturing and second-life decisions.
Zora Chung, cofounder and CFO of ReJoule, a company that provides rapid EV battery diagnostics to maximise reuse and recycling, explains how automakers and remanufacturers can overcome today’s EV battery bottlenecks. Chung explains why traditional cycling tests are no longer fit for purpose and how faster state-of-health assessment can unlock scalable, profitable remanufacturing.
The future of the automotive industry is undeniably electric, yet the transition is introducing significant operational pressures. Automakers must juggle intense competition, supply chain instability, and high manufacturing costs, all while ensuring a positive customer experience that addresses growing concerns about expensive battery replacements and vehicle longevity. The strategic solution to these challenges lies in battery remanufacturing – the efficient ability to repair and rebuild electric vehicle (EV) batteries. Remanufacturing is the most effective way to meet warranty demands, drastically reduce replacement costs, and bolster sustainability. However, a major operational bottleneck threatens to derail these efforts: the traditional reliance on full charge/discharge cycle testing, commonly known as cycling.
Why traditional cycling is holding remanufacturing back
Cycling is the industry’s gold standard for verifying a battery’s usable capacity, or state of health (SOH). While accurate, fully charging and then fully discharging a battery is an operationally slow, expensive, and resource-intensive process that can take six hours or more per pack. For any remanufacturing facility aiming for commercial scale, this reliance on cycling introduces severe capital and logistical challenges. A single faulty cell can reduce a pack’s capacity, requiring a technician to disassemble the entire pack, test each module to locate the defective cell, replace the bad one, reassemble, and then fully cycle the new pack to verify the repair. This creates a time-consuming, frustrating, and costly multi-step loop.
Power, infrastructure and safety challenges at scale
Furthermore, scaling cycling operations is a true logistical and nightmare. Testing just 25 packs simultaneously demands a continuous 500kW of power. This immense power draw requires substantial capital investments in electrical infrastructure, increases expenses, and introduces significant safety concerns for technicians working with high-voltage packs for extended periods. The industry simply cannot meet the growing demand for remanufacturing over the next five years with this outdated, slow, and power-hungry process; a radical shift is required to unlock profitability.
Rapid diagnostics as a catalyst for profitable EV remanufacturing
ReJoule’s rapid diagnostics technology provides the necessary catalyst, transforming a six-hour test into one that takes less than 15 minutes. This game-changing speed is enabled by technologies like Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS), which measures the battery’s internal resistance to map its degradation mechanisms. Unlike standard Battery Management System (BMS) data, which often only logs a failure, EIS provides actionable, granular data that helps technicians quickly isolate the root cause, such as a cell-to-cell imbalance, resulting in smarter, faster repair decisions.
With ReJoule’s system, a remanufacturer can rapidly screen an incoming pack to determine if it is ready for immediate reuse, needs minor repairs, or should be recycled. This speed enables an optimized remanufacturing line. For example, a single, rapid pack test can quickly identify a faulty module, allowing technicians to disassemble only the necessary part of the pack, saving days of work and significantly reducing the total number of tests performed.
The efficiency gains translate directly into impressive return on investment (ROI). In a scenario where a facility processes 10,000 battery packs annually, adopting ReJoule’s method instead of traditional cycling yields staggering business benefits: a 6x reduction in labor costs and a 79x reduction in energy consumption. Critically, two technicians using the rapid test can remanufacture 400 packs per year, compared to just 33 packs using cycling, generating a 12x increase in assumed value and accelerating time to revenue. By adopting rapid testing, automakers, remanufacturers, and repurposers can finally convert a high-risk, expensive service operation into a predictable, high-value revenue stream. ReJoule’s technology doesn’t just cut costs. It is the essential catalyst for a more efficient, sustainable, and circular EV battery supply chain built for scale.
To learn more, please download ReJoule’s white paper Scaling Battery Remanufacturing: Challenges and Opportunities.
Further reading on Auto Recycling World
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ReJoule – Call To Enable The Circular Economy For Battery Electric Vehicles
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Rebuilding Power: How Smartville Is Giving EV Batteries A Second Life
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Autocirc launches Europe’s first established solution for circular management of EVs and batteries
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EV Battery Recycling – Needs Clear Policy
