EV / hybrid battery management boards
A cell-tap board with unblown fuses and clean sense pads is a $30 part to the DIY pack community. The same board with a green corrosion bloom or a popped fuse is forty cents of e-scrap.
How to spot it
Long thin green or blue PCBs clipped onto the top of a battery module's cell terminals — one per module — plus a larger master board in a shielded box at one end of the pack. Tesla numbers run 1028578-01-x, 1021749-00-x, 10457080x.
Metal content
| Metal | Quantity | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Gold | 0.01–0.05 g per master board | |
| Silver | ~0.1 g per master board | |
| Copper | 10–50 g busbar traces per cell-tap board |
At 4 Aug 2026 spot prices that works out to $17.1 per pound of contained metal — Gold 0.12 g = $15.7, Silver 0.4 g = $0.76, Copper 60 g = $0.64. A refiner paying $3 returns about 18% of that, which is normal: refining costs money and the buyer takes a margin.
Safe removal
Working temperature: De-energised, verified
Service disconnect or pyro-fuse pulled, wait, verify 0 V. Modules are still live internally at 20–25 V each even after the pack is disconnected. T20/T25 Torx, insulated tools only, handle boards by the edges.
Hazards
NEVER short a large capacitor with a screwdriver. It welds the tip, blasts molten metal at your face, and can rupture the can.
A standard ABC extinguisher will NOT stop a runaway lithium cell. Don't count on one.
NEVER torch, incinerate or overheat PTFE insulation, and never smoke around PTFE dust — it converts on the cigarette.
NEVER open, cut, heat, drill, drop, shred or sell an inflator. There is no recoverable metal in one — the initiator's gold is measured in micrograms. Deploy-in-place by a trained handler, or hand it to the OEM collection stream.
Before you scrap it
The common trap
Questions
How much gold is in ev / hybrid battery management boards?
Gold: 0.01–0.05 g per master board. Silver: ~0.1 g per master board. Copper: 10–50 g busbar traces per cell-tap board. At current spot that is about $17.1 of contained metal per pound.
How do you identify ev / hybrid battery management boards?
A cell-tap board with unblown fuses and clean sense pads is a $30 part to the DIY pack community. The same board with a green corrosion bloom or a popped fuse is forty cents of e-scrap.
How do you remove ev / hybrid battery management boards safely?
Service disconnect or pyro-fuse pulled, wait, verify 0 V . Modules are still live internally at 20–25 V each even after the pack is disconnected. T20/T25 Torx, insulated tools only, handle boards by the edges.
Is ev / hybrid battery management boards worth more working than as scrap?
$15–250 against fifty cents to two dollars as scrap. Tesla master boards go $80–250, cell-tap boards $15–60 each.
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