Mercedes-Benz opens European EV battery recycling plant

  • Mercedes-Benz has opened a new EV battery recycling facility in Germany, following an investment in the tens of millions of euros into the plant by the manufacturer, and will be ran in a partnership with battery recycling experts Primobius.
  • It’s the first of its kind within Europe to use an integrated mechanical-hydrometallurgical process, which allows for an expected battery recovery rate of over 96%.
  • The opening allows Mercedes-Benz to now have a completed battery recycling loop, contributing to its goal of net carbon-neutrality in new cars from 2039.

New recycling facility creates circular economy for Mercedes-Benz

The new facility will be able to extract valuable and finite critical materials from end-of-life batteries, such as lithium, nickel, and cobalt, repurposing them for use in new EV batteries. It covers all stages of battery recycling, from shredding the battery modules, to separating out and processing each individual critical material. Plastics within the battery modules are also recycled, rather than going to waste.

With an annual recycling capacity of 2,500 tonnes at the new facility, this will create enough recycled materials per year to create 50,000 new battery modules. If we take the electric Mercedes-Benz EQE as an example, whose battery pack consists of ten individual battery modules, this equates to enough capacity to supply 5,000 EV batteries per year.

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Ola Källenius, Chairman of the Board of Management at Mercedes-Benz Group, commented:

“Mercedes-Benz has set itself the goal of building the most desirable cars in a sustainable way. As a pioneer in automotive engineering, Europe’s first integrated mechanical-hydrometallurgical battery recycling factory marks a key milestone towards enhancing raw-materials sustainability. Together with our partners from industry and science, we are sending a strong signal of innovative strength for sustainable electric mobility and value creation in Germany and Europe.”

However, battery recycling alone won’t be enough to meet future emobility demands. That’s why other firms in both the U.S. and UK recently announced significant lithium mining projects, which will also help satisfy future needs.

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