Old laptop batteries could power slums, IBM says

My father is using old laptop cells as portable power packs for many things; I usually send him all the dead laptop batteries I find, because in many cases there are only a couple of dead cells, the others are fine and can be reused. The problem is that 18650 cells (the ones you find in most laptop batteries) don't have an over-discharge protection circuit, so you can easily brick them if you don't add a protection circuit. You also have to be careful when charging them, as they can catch fire if you do it incorrectly.

For this to work well, you'd probably also need some plan to ensure the world's slums don't become dumping grounds for old batteries. Perhaps some kind of program along the lines of "Here's a battery... you can keep it as long as you need it, but you need to return it to the depot here to get another one when it runs out."

Wouldn't it be more efficient to recycle them into new batteries that work well instead? Lithium batteries are relatively easy to recycle.

This is a wonderful effort that I hope IBM follow through with. This is an idea I have often thought of in my head on and off for years after seeing those battery recycling stations, but obviously being one individual, can't really make a difference.

Such an effort could also make people more proactively recycle their old laptop batteries, something I know a lot of people don't take the time to properly do, opting to instead throw it out into the garbage bin instead because it is easier. Heck, if we could create a program where people are paid a few cents for every battery they recycle like you can with bottles and aluminum cans in a lot of places in the world, we would have more than enough batteries for such a plan to scale.

If a slum-dweller doesn't have power, how does he recharge batteries?

This is an incredibly worthwhile and interesting project posted on hn unlike far too many that are self-absorbed, pretentious, and a Silicon Valley pseudo entrepreneur bukake.