What the site does
Fremont sits in the southern East Bay, part of a Bay Area cluster that combines vehicle production, battery start-ups and energy storage developers. The diagnostics works opened on Fremont Boulevard in 2020 to grade packs from California, the largest EV market in the United States, where many of the earliest mass-market electric cars are now reaching the end of their road life.
With 24,000 TPA of capacity, the works tests large volumes of passenger-car packs from dismantlers, dealers and fleets. Its location also suits pilot-line and R&D material from Bay Area companies developing new cells and packs, while Grade A modules find a ready market in California's strong demand for energy storage. Dismantlers are a large and steady source of the site's intake, bringing packs already removed from vehicles.
What arrives at the gate
Feedstock at Fremont, California reflects its catchment and plant type. Every consignment is weighed, photographed and logged against the originating manifest before it enters the process area.
- Passenger-car packs from California's large EV fleet
- Pilot-line and R&D material from Bay Area companies
- Ride-hailing and delivery fleet retirements
- Packs removed from vehicles at licensed dismantlers
The process, step by step
The 3 operating lines — module soh bench, eis diagnostics laboratory, ai optical cell grading — run the sequence below.
| Stage | What happens |
|---|---|
| Intake & safety triage | Packs are logged, thermally imaged and screened for swelling, coolant ingress or venting before entering the bench area. |
| Controlled de-energising | Residual energy is discharged to a safe state of charge with regenerative load banks and recorded per serial number. |
| Module-level capacity test | Full charge-discharge cycling at C/3 establishes usable capacity, internal resistance and cell-to-cell balance. |
| EIS fingerprinting | 1 mHz–10 kHz impedance sweeps separate SEI growth, lithium plating and contact resistance degradation modes. |
| AI optical inspection | Machine-vision inspection of busbars, welds and cell cans flags mechanical defects that block second-life reuse. |
| Grade assignment | Grade A (≥85% SOH), B (75–85%), C (65–75%) and D routes are assigned, with D-grade material released to refining. |
What sets the site apart
Largest US EV market. Serves California, where many of the first mass-market EVs are now retiring.
R&D material handling. Accepts experimental cells and packs from local technology developers.
Storage-market supply. Grade A modules feed California's strong demand for energy storage.
Where material goes next
Material that Fremont, California does not finish on site moves to the nearest specialist facility in the network, keeping transport distances and dwell times down.
| Facility | Role | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Gothenburg — Nordic Second-Life Campus | Second-Life BESS Works | 8,586 km |
| Reno — Nevada Hydrometallurgy Refinery | Hydrometallurgical Refinery | 291 km |
Field note