End-of-life electric vehicle battery disassembly enabled by intelligent and human-robot collaboration technologies: A review

Electric vehicles (EVs) have been experiencing radical growth to embrace the ambitious targets of decarbonisation and circular economies. The trend has led to a significant surge in the number of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) that will soon reach the end-of-life (EoL) stage. Given that landfilling EoL EV LIBs generates substantially negative impacts on the environment, it is imperative to develop economically and ecologically sound LIB recycling solutions. This survey aims to provide a systematic update on the latest development of disassembly technology for EoL LIBs, which is a critical enabler for EV LIB recycling. First, based on a detailed analysis of major challenges incurred by large-scale EoL LIBs, two technical pillars to uphold LIB disassembly technology, i.e., artificial intelligence and human-robot collaboration (HRC), are pinpointed. Furthermore, state-of-the-art studies are analysed according to three categories, namely, LIB knowledge representation for disassembly, HRC-based LIB disassembly planning, and HRC-based LIB disassembly operations. Benchmarks are conducted on the relevant research under each category to summarise their major characteristics, pros and cons. Finally, discussions are made, and promising prospects are highlighted in a bid to inspire researchers and practitioners to explore further development of methodologies and technologies to progress towards the sustainable processing of EoL LIBs.