The Department of Energy announced that Smartville was a winner of Phase III of the Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Prize in June 2022. The multiphase competition was created to incentivize American entrepreneurs to develop and demonstrate processes that, when scaled, have the potential to profitably capture 90% of all discarded lithium-ion batteries.
As an award-winning solution, Smartville further developed and demonstrated an EV battery repurposing platform HUB and innovative Smartville 360 energy storage product. It is the first battery energy storage system (BESS) to integrate and control repurposed EV battery packs from different manufacturers at varying states of health in one unified system.
Through the use of proprietary hardware and controls Smartville has built the lowest carbon, best value per kilowatt-hour, and assured-reliability storage solution found on the market. It targets 30% levelized energy cost reduction compared to a new system. The system can help fill America’s growing need for stationary storage with fewer minerals mined, less carbon from manufacturing and maximum utilization of EV batteries prior to recycling.
Since winning the Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Prize, Smartville is establishing strategic partnerships with automakers, electric fleet operators, energy utilities and renewable energy developers to provide a solution for second-life batteries in the U.S. Most batteries retired from EVs retain 70% of their storage capacity, making them ideal candidates for stationary storage before recycling.
The winners were praised for their innovative ideas and their dedication to finding solutions that can help reduce environmental waste. “The prize model catalyzes research and development and empowers American ingenuity,” said U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy David Turk in a press release. “Public partnerships like the Battery Recycling Prize are critical to enhancing our national leadership in the energy marketplace.”