How to recycle Electric vehicle (EV) batteries has been a topic of discussion for years, but it took some time to get enough electric cars on the road (and then off the road) for commercially viable battery recycling outfits to grow.
One such story comes from Audi and Umicore.
The companies pointed out in a recent press release 90% of the cobalt and nickel in Audi e-tron batteries can be recycled. In December, they finished a test phase that came to that finding.
The next phase of the partnership is implementing a closed-loop system for the cobalt and nickel in e-tron batteries.
From the Umicore and Audi press release, here are a few more details: “For this closed-loop pilot project, Umicore will receive cell modules from the Audi e-tron model, which will initially be taken from development vehicles.”
From those cells, the materials technology expert will recover cobalt and nickel, and process them into precursor and cathode materials. From this, new battery cells containing recycled cobalt and nickel can be produced.
Since the beginning of development of its first fully electric cars, Audi has worked on the recycling of the vehicle. The company aims to apply resources efficiently and purposely pursues this idea in all directions. In the future, further recycling skills are to be developed.
Reference- Umicore-Audi Press Release, Clean Technica, InsideEVs