Volkswagen Group launches battery recycling program to create battery recycling cycle

Volkswagen Group’s pilot battery recycling plant in Salzgitter has been put into operation.

The factory aims to create a closed-loop management system for recycling core raw materials for lithium batteries.

Thomas Schmahl, member of the Volkswagen AG Board of Management, said: “Our forward-looking battery recycling measures will make a significant contribution to future issues such as climate protection and the supply of raw materials.”

Recently, the first pilot plant for recycling automotive power batteries of Volkswagen Group Components in Salzgitter was officially put into use. With the development of the project, Volkswagen Group has taken solid steps in achieving end-to-end sustainable development of the entire value chain of power batteries. The goal of the plant is to create a closed-loop management system for raw material recycling and industrialize the recycling of valuable battery raw materials such as lithium, nickel, manganese, cobalt, aluminum, copper and plastics. In the long run, the goal is to recycle more than 90% of raw materials.

The special feature of the Group's Salzgitter plant is that it recycles old batteries that cannot be used for other purposes. Before recycling the used batteries, the plant will analyze whether the batteries still have enough power to continue to be used in mobile energy storage systems such as flexible fast charging stations or charging robots. It is expected that the Group may not have a large demand for battery recycling until the end of the 2020s. Therefore, the initial plan of the plant is to recycle 3,600 battery systems per year, equivalent to 1,500 tons. In the future, as the recycling management process is continuously optimized, the plant will further expand its capacity to handle larger volumes of battery recycling needs.

"Batteries are the core components of electric vehicles. Through battery recycling, Volkswagen Group Components has taken a new step in achieving end-to-end sustainable development." Thomas Schmal, member of the Volkswagen Group Management Board, head of the Technology Department, and chairman of the Group Components Board, continued to add, "We are implementing sustainable material recovery and recycling measures, and are committed to contributing to future issues such as climate protection and raw material supply, and playing the role of a pioneer in the group industry."

This innovative, CO2-reducing recycling process no longer uses energy-intensive blast furnace smelting processes. Instead, the recycled old batteries are deeply discharged and disassembled. The battery components are crushed into particles and then dried and sieved. In addition to raw materials such as aluminum, copper and plastic, this process also produces a black powder: it contains important battery raw materials such as lithium, nickel, manganese, cobalt and graphite. After that, professionals use hydrometallurgy, using water and chemical reagents to separate and process different raw materials.

Mark Möller, head of technical development and e-mobility at Volkswagen Group Components, explained: “The core components of old batteries can be used to produce new cathode materials. Studies have shown that recycled battery raw materials are just as effective as new materials. In the future, we plan to use recycled raw materials to support the production of new batteries. Given that the market demand for batteries and related raw materials will increase dramatically, we will make full use of every gram of recycled raw materials.”

It is calculated that if the cathode material of the battery is made from recycled raw materials and green electricity is used in the production of the battery, each 62kWh battery pack can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 1.3 tons.

Volkswagen Group's Salzgitter plant recycles core raw materials from used batteries

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