Volkswagen has opened its first EV battery recycling facility to recover raw materials such as lithium, nickel, manganese and cobalt in a closed loop, together with aluminum, copper and plastics, achieving a recycling rate of more than 90% over the long term. The unique feature of the plant in Salzgitter, Germany is that it only… Read more »
German battery manufacturer AKASOL is has partnered with the Fraunhofer Research Institution to develop automated recycling processes for battery packs. “The rising demand for high-performance battery systems means that more raw materials, such as lithium, cobalt or nickel, are needed to manufacture these energy-storage technologies,” explains AKASOL Head of Product Management Dr. Björn Eberleh. “In… Read more »
Despite what the anti-EV brigade would like you to believe, recycling lithium-ion batteries is quite feasible both technologically and financially, and several companies are doing so right now. One of these is Li-Cycle, which was featured in the July/August issue of Charged. Another is Redwood Materials , which has gotten a lot of press coverage… Read more »
Battery recycling specialist Li-Cycle will invest over $175 million dollars in a lithium-ion battery recycling “Hub” at Eastman Business Park in upstate New York. The new facility will work in conjunction with Li-Cycle’s “Spoke” facility, which is already located at the Rochester site. Li-Cycle plans to begin construction on the Hub facility in 2021. Li-Cycle’s… Read more »
Finish utility company Fortum, German chemical company BASF, and Russian mining company Nornickel have signed a letter of intent to develop a battery recycling cluster in Harjavalta, Finland. The companies aim to promote the production and use of recycled raw materials in the EV battery market. BASF will use the recycled materials in its planned… Read more »
Volvo Buses is amping up its green portfolio. It’s introducing a program to recycle its bus batteries by transforming them into a source of energy for a Gothenburg residential complex. The program, which began late last year in partnership with Stena Property and Stena Recycling, is similar to one the company is already running with… Read more »
Swedish battery maker Northvolt is launching a new program, Revolt, that is devoted to recycling lithium-ion batteries. It plans to bring a pilot recycling plant online in Västerås, Sweden, in 2020, next to its existing manufacturing plant. The plant will handle NMC and NCA Li-ion chemistries. It will serve as a platform for developing and… Read more »
Governments and industry in the United Kingdom must develop a recycling infrastructure for EV batteries, according to a new study led by the University of Birmingham. The researchers calculated that one million EVs sold in 2017 alone will result in 250,000 metric tons of unprocessed waste once these vehicles reach the end of their lives…. Read more »
The Responsible Battery Coalition (RBC) and research center Argonne National Laboratory have partnered to develop battery recycling technology. The partnership is the first industry-sponsored project with ReCell Center, an Argonne-led Li-ion battery research and development initiative that was launched by the Department of Energy in 2019. In the next two decades, global spent battery volume… Read more »
EIT Raw Materials, a European Union consortium, has granted €4.7 million (about $5.2 million) to the Recycling Li-ion batteries for electric Vehicle (ReLieVe) project to develop a closed-loop process for recycling Li-ion batteries and support the production of new Li-ion batteries in Europe. ReLieVe will carry out its development for two years beginning in January… Read more »