Connected Energy and Recycling Lives (Case Study 1)

Connected Energy multi-stage project partnership at Recycling Lives' Authorised Treatment Facility (ATF) for end-of-life vehicle processing that re-tasks EV batteries.

Connected Energy is partnering with Recycling Lives in a ground-breaking circular economy solution for end-of-life vehicle processing that re-tasks EV batteries for energy storage, reduces waste-to-landfill, and delivers renewable energy, a huge success for achieving net zero.

Connected Energy, a SME with around 23 employees, designs and operates second life EV battery storage systems, providing end-to-end solutions for commercial and industrial customers.  Recycling Lives is an award-winning company, with a £200m turnover, UK’s leading end-of-life vehicle (ELV) processor, handling up to 11,000 vehicles each month. Both companies are active in their zero carbon commitments. 

Recycling Lives aims to reduce by up to 50% the amount of ASR that goes to landfill. and is seeking to generate, store and use renewable energy on-site at its 15-acre Recycling Park, in addition to creating H2 hydrogen gas as a vehicle fuel. 

Recycling Lives is now embracing a broader circular economy model, creating opportunities to use hard-to-recycle automotive shredder residue (ASR) for energy generation and hydrogen gas production, alongside re-tasking batteries from end-of-life electric vehicles for energy storage to make the company’s overall process cycle greener and more energy efficient. ASR waste is diverted into useable power and fuel, while second-life application batteries from electric vehicles store renewable power generated on site. 

The new circular economy solution is a multi-stage project at Recycling Lives’ Authorised Treatment Facility (ATF) on the Recycling Park.  This facility accepts ELVs from a network of ATFs centres across the UK:

• EV Batteries – the partnership between Connected Energy and Recycling Lives will give productive second life to recoverable EV batteries.
• Landfill – reduce ASR landfill by 50%+, reducing costs and environmental impact
• Power – generate significant power to make Recycling Lives’ operations greener and ultimately export power to the grid +32.5MWh
• Clean Fuel – produce significant volumes of hydrogen gas - 123,800 kg/year. This can be sold to power the latest generation of green vehicles.