Global lithium-ion battery waste is projected to rise from roughly 500,000 tons in 2019 to as much as eight million tons by 2040, a sixteen-fold increase that underscores one of the energy transition’s least discussed bottlenecks: the lack of scalable, safe, and economically viable recycling systems.
Against this backdrop, Switzerland’s CircuBAT project, a four-year collaboration led by the Bern University of Applied Sciences, offers a data-driven case study in how automation may reshape end-of-life logistics for electric vehicle batteries.
The robotic disassembly system installed at the Swiss Battery Technology Center (SBTC) in Biel/Bienne responds to a longstanding industrial gap: manual battery dismantling is labor-intensive, costly, and exposes workers to thermal, chemical, and electrical hazards. By automating module separation and material classification, the system reduces contact with high-voltage components while standardizing the quality of recovered materials. For a recycling industry that still relies heavily on manual sorting and varied process chains, this shift toward precision-controlled operations signals potential reductions in both OPEX and incident-related downtime.
CircuBAT’s scale matters. The initiative brings together seven research institutions and 24 companies, reflecting the multi-stakeholder coordination required for battery circularity. Switzerland’s approach contrasts with the fragmented recycling landscape in many markets, where upstream collectors, transport operators, and recyclers operate without shared digital infrastructure. The Swiss consortium’s integrated model—linking diagnostics, disassembly, materials recovery, and second-life allocation—provides a test case for national-level circular economy frameworks.
A central component is the Battery Expert System, designed to analyze degradation patterns across thousands of cells. Instead of defaulting to shredding or metallurgical processing, the system identifies cells suitable for repair or repurposing. This diagnostic intelligence addresses a growing inefficiency: many EV batteries retired from vehicles still retain more than 70% of their original capacity, making them viable for stationary storage applications. By filtering for second-life suitability before recycling, the system supports a more resource-efficient hierarchy—reuse before recovery.
The project’s material innovations further illustrate how process improvements upstream can influence end-of-life outcomes. Researchers report advancements in electrode coatings aimed at lowering production energy intensity and initiatives to integrate secondary materials in new battery manufacturing. These steps align with broader EU and international policy trends pushing for increased recycled content in next-generation chemistries. Although full cost-benefit data from the Swiss prototypes has not yet been published, the technical direction mirrors regulatory expectations around reduced reliance on newly mined lithium, nickel, and cobalt.
CircuBAT also includes a forecasting model for national lithium-ion volumes available for the second-life market. As EV adoption accelerates across Europe, accurate volume planning will determine whether grid-scale storage markets can absorb repurposed modules or whether oversupply risks emerge. For policymakers tracking recycling capacity gaps, this type of modeling provides inputs for infrastructure planning—particularly where cross-border material flows complicate logistics.
The presentation of these results at the CircuBAT2025 conference on November 13–14 at the BERNEXPO Foyer highlighted growing alignment between research institutions, industry, and government bodies. Discussions centered on whether automating early-stage disassembly could help standardize recycling outputs globally and reduce dependence on high-temperature refining processes with significant energy requirements.
