German car manufacturer Audi and Belgium-based material tech giant Umicore have announced the successful completion of phase one testing for closed loop EV battery recycling, reporting that “95% of valuable battery materials can be recycled”.
The cooperation— which began in June 2018— is looking to establish closed loop recycling for lithium-ion batteries, as companies wake up to the challenges of producing lithium-ion batteries without effective recycling processes in place.
In order to achieve their stated goals of secure supply and shorter delivery cycles, the partners intend to develop a raw materials bank concept for valuable metals (such as cobalt, nickel, copper) recovered from recycled batteries.
Audi board member Bernd Martens said: “We want to be a pioneer and to promote recycling processes. This is also an element of our programme to reduce CO2 emissions in procurement.”
This announcement comes after last week’s news that BMW had formed a joint technology consortium with Umicore and Swedish lithium-ion start-up Northvolt.
BEST Magazine technical editor Dr Mike McDonagh takes’ a comprehensive look at the issues surrounding battery recycling in the autumn edition, out now.
