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As essential materials for batteries for electrified cars Nickel, cobalt and lithium are in short supply, battery recycling becomes paramount

Nickel, cobalt and lithium are in short supply, but there are thousands of tons of these materials in electric car batteries. When they are damaged or their capacity drops below the threshold value, they are recycled – to cover the need.

There are things that give hope for the future, especially given the current shortage of raw materials. In Europe today there are 35 companies that can recycle used or damaged electric car batteries and that will start working within a few months. Just two years ago, there were only 25 facilities working to recycle damaged lithium-ion batteries.

Mercedes, Renault and Volkswagen are among the few automakers that work directly or via a partner with recycling, and from there you hear impressive numbers. The goal is to extract 96% of the battery's metallic components.

Mercedes mainly focuses on recycling nickel, cobalt and lithium, and later also reuses graphite. Therefore, he founded the subsidiary Licular, which has the support of the technological partner Primobius, a company specialized in battery recycling.

Recycling company Duesenfeld takes a step beyond Mercedes and, in addition to metallic materials, also recycles part of the battery's liquid electrolyte. Duesenfeld's goal is to recycle most materials to return them to the material cycle. In addition to the separator sheet and part of the electrolyte, they've already done it.

Of course, it takes a lot of work from recycling companies to be able to meet their ambitious goals. On the other hand, recycling is absolutely necessary because battery manufacturers have never seen the husband of the current material shortage. Recycled materials can thus alleviate the effects of bottlenecks.

Indeed, the current global commodity shortage has the potential to be the next big challenge for supply chains. An analysis by market strategists at Berylls Strategy Advisors shows that there are no fewer than 41 hard-to-find materials, with nickel and cobalt topping the list.

Nickel, in particular, is an elemental element in lithium-ion batteries and, according to experts, demand will increase by approximately 48% from 2021 to 2030. Cobalt is also one of the most important components of current batteries, and here it is predicted that demand will increase fivefold by 2030.

If you keep up the same insane pace there's an imminent risk that Earth's cobalt reserves will be depleted by the end of the decade, at least if you believe Dr. Maximilian Fichtner, a researcher at the Helmholtz Institute in Ulm and one of Germany's leading battery experts. His message is clear: recycle at all costs!

Legislation at European level is of the same opinion and therefore laws on commissioning and recycling of batteries and accumulators have been in existence for some years now. The summary can be found in Directive 2006/66/EC of the European Parliament and the Battery Council. Since December 2009, the guidelines have been superseded by the Law on Commissioning, Return and Ecological Recycling of Batteries.

EU Council requirements that came into effect in March 2022 outline that by 2030 new batteries must contain at least twelve percent recycled cobalt and four percent recycled nickel and lithium. By 2035, the requirements are slightly stricter and require a recycling share of 20 percent cobalt and 12 percent nickel and lithium (each). If you think this sounds a bit much, we can only agree.

A study by the Fraunhofer Institute's Department for Systems Research and Innovation shows, however, that the policy is not entirely wrong with its demands. By 2040, researchers predict that the proportion of recycled materials in battery manufacturing will be over 40% cobalt and over 15% lithium, nickel and copper.

But why is the percentage of recycled materials not higher than that? Fraunhofer Institute expert Dr. Thomas Schmaltz, has the answer:

“As we are at the beginning of market development, the future demand for raw materials is much greater than the amount we can recycle from used batteries.” Not even a growing network of recycling companies can change that, but it will still play a big role from a sustainability point of view. It is completely useless to drive spent batteries across continents to recycle raw materials.

WAR AND CRISES MAKE ACCESS DIFFICULT...Russia is the world's largest producer of nickel, but it is falling as a supplier due to the country's attack on Ukraine.

Even the acquisition of cobalt(next image) is not entirely problem-free because the raw material is mainly found in two places on the planet: in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which holds approximately 60% of the world's cobalt reserves, and in China, which also controls more 50% of Congolese cobalt production through aggressive investments. Therefore, more than 70% of the world's cobalt refining takes place in China.

THE GOAL IS THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECYCLING RATE...Mercedes is one of the few car manufacturers that deals with recycling. Old batteries should ideally be fully recyclable.

Europe's recycling network has major gaps – which are, however, starting to narrow.

Transporting damaged or worn out batteries over long distances is not environmentally sustainable and therefore a denser network is needed. In 2020, the Berylls Institute had only 25 European companies capable of recycling spent lithium-ion batteries, but this year the number of recycling companies has increased to 35. The trend is therefore going in the right direction.

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