Bernhard Fäßler studied Mechatronics at the Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences (Austria). During his master’s studies, he joined a double degree programme in cooperation with the Universityof Agder (Norway). He completed his doctoral studies on Autonomous Optimization of Repurposed Electric Vehicle Batteries for Grid Balancing at the University of Agder in cooperation with the Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences in the summer of 2018. He is currently working as Assistant Professor at the University of Agder where he is teaching and working on the establishment of a battery research centre on post-processing of decommissioned electric vehicle batteries.
Title: Trailblazing resource management through the upcoming battery wave.
The University of Agder (UiA) is an academic institution that provides a combination of excellent education and research opportunities in a pleasant and open environment. Regionally anchored in Southern Norway, UiA offers a wide range of studies across its faculties. UiA is an open and inclusive university characterised by a strong culture of collaboration and a global outlook. Available synergies between different faculties are used in successful research on decommissioned electric vehicle batteries. Within that research field, three focus areas are covered; automated robotic disassembly and second use of electric vehicle batteries as stationary energy storages as well as corresponding business models focusing on environmental and economic perspectives.
The Faculty of Engineering and Science focuses on the technical challenges: automated disassembly and second use. Within the project LIBRES (Lithium Ion-Battery Recycling), UiA with its partners aims to develop a design basis for a lithium-ion battery recycling pilot plant in Norway including automated disassembly of electric vehicle battery packs/modules/cells with the help of cognitive robots. The project ReLIEVe(Reuse of Lithium Ion-Batteries from Electrical Vehicles for stationaryapplications) was a preliminary study on reusing decommissioned electric vehicle batteries to identify the common types of electric vehicle batteries,possible stationary applications, and an estimation on the effort needed to reuse such batteries. Based on the results of the ReLIEVe project, the EU H2020 project proposal LIBMAR (Lithium-ion battery Material Analysis and Reuse) was developed and submitted to the European Commission. This project is currently under review.
The Faculty of Business and Law focuses on business models, environmental footprints and policy analysis. The project BATMAN (Lithium ion BATteries - Norwegian opportunities within sustainable end-of-life MANagement, reuse and new material streams) is currently a central part of this work, which is in cooperation with industry and research partners.The project will (among other things) explore business models to manage the significant upcoming wave of batteries stemming from electrical vehicles. This includes to consider business model effects on ownership and management of these batteries. In addition, the environmental impacts of end of life treatment of batteries are examined to identify environmental footprints from different scenarios of secondary use and recycling technologies.
The University of Agder is looking forward to new and exciting collaborations with industry and research partners making use of synergies and partner networks. We look forward to meeting you at OBD 2019.
