EV Battery Repair Grows as UK Firm Remanufactures Up to 400 Packs a Month

EV battery repair could become an increasingly important part of the automotive aftermarket as the first large generations of electric cars age and begin requiring more substantial repairs.

UK-headquartered Autocraft Solutions Group is already repairing and remanufacturing between 300 and 400 electric vehicle battery packs every month at its facilities in Grantham and Arnhem in the Netherlands.

Its REVIVE battery repair operation has now received the Green Award at the 2026 Automechanika Frankfurt Innovation Awards, where an international jury considered 185 entries.

But the more significant story for UK garages isn’t the award itself.

It’s the evidence that failed EV batteries don’t necessarily need to be replaced as complete units.

Autocraft says many battery failures can be traced to individual cells or modules, allowing otherwise healthy components to remain in service. Its REVIVE Battery Workshops have achieved a reported 92% return-to-service rate, with repaired packs capable of being restored to more than 90% of their original performance.

As Britain’s EV population gets older, that could have important implications for independent garages, used EV owners and the wider automotive aftermarket.

300 to 400 EV batteries being repaired every month

Autocraft’s existing battery repair operation is already operating at significant scale.

Its facilities in Grantham and Arnhem currently process between 300 and 400 battery packs each month for vehicle manufacturers.

The company’s REVIVE system is designed to diagnose faults within a failed pack before replacing defective cells or modules rather than automatically replacing the complete battery.

Official information published by Automechanika says the system has capacity to repair thousands of packs annually.

It reports a 92% return-to-service rate and says repaired batteries can be restored to more than 90% of their original performance.

That distinction is potentially important as the UK electric vehicle fleet ages.

A failed battery has traditionally been associated with the prospect of complete pack replacement – potentially one of the most expensive repairs an electric vehicle can face.

But if the underlying problem is confined to a small number of components, replacing an entire battery can mean discarding a large quantity of perfectly serviceable material.

Most of a failed battery may still be usable

Previous research from Autocraft provides an indication of just how localised some battery faults can be.

Analysis of 559 commercial battery repairs undertaken during 2024 found that, on average, only 1.1 modules needed replacing to restore a battery pack to above 90% of its original state of health.

The research also concluded that 92% of modules within a battery classified as failed remained suitable for automotive reuse.

That doesn’t mean every damaged or degraded EV battery can be repaired.

Battery condition, chemistry, physical damage, thermal events, electrical faults and individual manufacturer designs can all affect whether repair is practical or safe.

But the findings demonstrate why diagnosing a pack before automatically replacing it could become increasingly important.

How EV battery repair works

Modern EV batteries are considerably more complicated than conventional 12-volt batteries.

A traction battery consists of numerous individual cells grouped into modules and assembled into a complete battery pack, supported by cooling, electrical control and battery management systems.

A problem affecting one area of that system doesn’t necessarily mean every cell in the battery has reached the end of its useful life.

Autocraft uses its proprietary OptEVizer diagnostic system to assess battery condition and identify weaknesses down to cellular level.

Its testing goes beyond simply reading information available through the vehicle’s battery management system.

The company says its dynamic testing process can place the battery under controlled load to reveal weaknesses that standard onboard diagnostics might not identify.

The resulting data is used to establish battery state of health and identify which areas require repair.

The pack can then be disassembled and defective components replaced before being reassembled, tested and returned to service.

Why this matters to the independent aftermarket

For independent garages, EV battery repair represents both an opportunity and a challenge.

Most general workshops aren’t going to start opening high-voltage battery packs themselves.

Working inside an EV traction battery requires specialist training, equipment, facilities, procedures and safety controls, and potentially exposes technicians to lethal voltages.

But garages don’t necessarily need to become battery remanufacturers to participate in the market.

As specialist battery repair networks expand, independent workshops could increasingly become the first point of diagnosis before vehicles are referred to specialist facilities for more complex battery work.

That model is already familiar elsewhere in the aftermarket.

Garages routinely remove or diagnose components that are subsequently repaired or remanufactured by specialist businesses.

Electric motors, battery packs and associated EV components could increasingly follow a similar model.

A potential alternative to complete battery replacement

The economics could become particularly important as EVs move beyond manufacturer warranties.

During the early years of electric vehicle ownership, battery faults may be dealt with through manufacturer warranty programmes.

But an ageing population of privately owned EVs creates a different challenge.

When the value of the vehicle has fallen substantially, the cost of replacing a complete battery could become difficult to justify.

Repairing only the defective elements could therefore help keep otherwise serviceable vehicles economically viable.

This could also become increasingly relevant to the used EV market.

Concern over battery condition and potential replacement costs remains one of the issues buyers consider when purchasing an older electric car.

A mature independent repair and remanufacturing market could help reduce some of that uncertainty by providing alternatives between doing nothing and installing an entirely new battery.

Repairing rather than replacing can dramatically reduce waste

There is also an environmental argument for repairing battery packs.

Autocraft’s research, using data from the UK Government-backed RECOVAS consortium, calculated that repairing an 82.5kWh battery rather than replacing and recycling it could avoid approximately 12 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Its analysis estimated a 93% reduction in carbon emissions from taking a repair-first approach.

The reason is relatively straightforward.

An EV battery contains substantial quantities of processed materials and represents considerable energy and emissions from mining, refining, cell manufacture, transport and pack production.

Recycling those materials remains important when components genuinely reach the end of their useful lives.

But recycling a functioning cell or module prematurely loses the remaining useful life already contained within that component.

Repair and reuse can therefore sit ahead of recycling where components remain safe and serviceable.

Battery design could become the next right-to-repair battleground

There is another issue that could prove increasingly important for the aftermarket: whether future EV batteries are actually designed to be repaired.

Autocraft has warned that manufacturers and legislators need to consider repairability when developing future battery architectures.

Increasingly integrated battery designs can potentially make individual cells or modules more difficult to access and replace.

Some newer vehicles are moving towards highly integrated battery structures, including cell-to-pack and structural battery designs.

These approaches can provide advantages for manufacturers, including reduced weight, packaging improvements and potentially lower production costs.

But greater integration can also create challenges when something eventually goes wrong.

If a relatively small fault cannot be economically isolated and repaired, an otherwise functional battery could potentially require much more extensive replacement.

Autocraft argues that repairability therefore needs to be considered during battery design rather than after vehicles have entered service.

For the independent aftermarket, that debate could become increasingly significant as today’s new EVs become tomorrow’s out-of-warranty workshop customers.

Autocraft plans further expansion

Autocraft isn’t limiting its battery repair ambitions to Britain.

Following the development of its operations in Grantham and Arnhem, the company is planning further expansion into European markets including Germany, Spain and Italy.

It believes demand for battery repair capacity will increase as the first mass-market generations of EVs move towards the end of their initial useful lives.

The company’s wider EV operation now covers battery diagnostics, repair, remanufacturing, grading and recycling, as well as electric drive motor remanufacturing.

It has also developed a vehicle workshop near Newark designed to provide an end-to-end battery repair service, including vehicle handling rather than requiring customers to supply a removed battery pack.

EV repair skills will become increasingly important

The development also reinforces the need for the UK aftermarket to continue investing in EV skills.

Although most technicians won’t be expected to dismantle traction batteries, workshops increasingly need to understand how to safely diagnose, isolate and work around high-voltage systems.

As electric vehicles get older, their workshop requirements will also move beyond routine servicing.

Suspension, brakes, tyres and conventional mechanical components will continue requiring attention, while electric drivetrains introduce different diagnostic and repair requirements.

Battery state-of-health testing, high-voltage fault diagnosis, electric motor repair and specialist battery remanufacturing could therefore become increasingly established parts of the aftermarket.

The garages best positioned to deal with these vehicles may not necessarily carry out every repair themselves, but they will need to understand the technology and know when specialist intervention is required.

What does this mean for MOT Testing Stations?

For MOT testers, there is an important distinction to make.

The MOT is not currently a battery health test.

An electric vehicle can therefore meet the requirements of its MOT while still experiencing battery degradation or other issues affecting range and performance.

MOT testers nevertheless increasingly encounter EVs as part of the normal vehicle parc, and high-voltage systems introduce specific considerations during inspection.

The growing population of older EVs means testers and garages are likely to encounter more vehicles where roadworthiness issues sit alongside battery-health and drivetrain concerns that fall outside the scope of the MOT itself.

For motorists, understanding that difference will become increasingly important.

A valid MOT certificate should not be interpreted as evidence that an EV’s traction battery retains a particular state of health.

Repair rather than replace could change the economics of older EVs

The significance of battery remanufacturing will ultimately depend on whether it can become widely available and economically viable once large numbers of EVs move outside manufacturer warranties.

There are still substantial challenges.

Battery designs vary considerably between manufacturers, access to technical information can differ and working on high-voltage packs requires significant investment and expertise.

Not every damaged battery will be repairable either.

But processing 300 to 400 packs every month demonstrates that battery repair has already moved beyond the experimental stage.

If specialist remanufacturers can successfully diagnose and replace relatively small numbers of defective cells or modules while retaining the majority of a battery’s original components, complete pack replacement need not always be the default response to a battery fault.

For the UK independent aftermarket, that could eventually create an entirely new repair ecosystem.

And as the country’s electric vehicle population ages, the ability to diagnose, repair and remanufacture rather than simply replace may prove crucial to keeping older EVs economically viable and on the road.

External sources

Automechanika – REVIVE Battery Workshop technical details

Automechanika – 2026 Innovation Awards results

Autocraft – REVIVE EV Solutions

Bodyshop Magazine – Autocraft Green Award and current repair volumes

BEST Magazine – European battery remanufacturing expansion

FleetPoint – European battery remanufacturing network