Circular Economy
The share of electric vehicles will touch 30% in 2025 in the European market and will exceed 70% by 2030, according to a report prepared by the European Association of Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA). These figures reflect an increasingly clear commitment to sustainable mobility.
For this commitment to be complete, progress must also be made in the recycling of electric car batteries. Because even though this is complicated — albeit increasingly less so — it is economically feasible and, above all, very necessary.
It is expected that by 2025 there will be more than 3.4 million batteries from electric cars. Although this seems like a very high number, the good news is that up to 70% of the materials contained in electric car batteries can be recycled thanks to new technologies, according to Recyclia and Recyberica Ambiental. As the Spanish Association for Reuse and Recycling (FER) states, almost 100% of lead-acid batteries can be recycled to make new batteries.
What are electric car batteries made of?
Before we look more closely at the recycling process, let us take a look at what batteries for electric cars are made of. The first batteries used were lead-acid batteries, followed by nickel-iron batteries. Today, however, lithium-ion batteries are the most commonly used. These are not only smaller and lighter, but also have a much higher energy density, which allows for a longer range.
“Up to 70% of the materials contained in electric car batteries can be recycled thanks to new technologies".
Typically, lithium-ion batteries consist of various elements including lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, iron, aluminium and copper. Although car manufacturers are continuously researching and working to make these batteries more efficient and cheaper, there is still a long way to go. For this reason, recycling batteries is the key to further progress in the mobility transition.
Recycling of electric car batteries
Car batteries can be recycled - just as we do with other types of batteries. In this case, they should be taken to an authorised workshop or recycling centre at the end of their life cycle. According to FER, 98.5% of lead-acid batteries placed on the market are currently collected. This is a great figure because recycling electric car batteries promotes the circular economy and thus avoids the environmental impacts associated with the extraction and production of raw materials.
The recycling challenge is really important, and to respond to it, new initiatives and projects to promote recycling are constantly emerging. Proof of this is the growth of battery recycling plants. The largest in Europe is located in the town of Fredriktad in Norway and has a processing capacity of 12,000 tons of batteries per year.
In Spain, Endesa has partnered with Urbaser to promote the construction of the first electric vehicle battery recycling plant in the Iberian Peninsula. This plant, which will be operational by the end of 2023, will be built in Cubillos del Sil (León) and will have a treatment capacity of 8,000 tonnes per year. This plant will process those batteries that can be reused and recycled due to their composition. The remaining batteries will undergo a separation process that will allow materials such as plastics, aluminium and copper to be recycled.
Magnesium batteries, which have a higher capacity and are more efficient, cheaper and safer, have also been the subject of research and development around the world for many years.. But the main reason why they are believed to be the future is that magnesium is available in greater quantities than lithium and is also easier to recycle. In this context, a team at the Tokyo University of Science has already succeeded in developing a solid-state battery based on magnesium ions.
