A multimillion-pound investment by SYNETIQ, who are Britain’s largest integrated salvage and recycling company, will prepare its Winsford site to become the UK’s first facility with a dedicated electric car and hybrid dismantling capability. The investment will provide electric vehicle-specific equipment such as de-pollution ramps and quarantine areas for the handling of compromised battery packs at the facility, which is already manned by extensively electric car trained specialists.
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Tom Rumboll, CEO of SYNETIQ, said: “We have seen a steady year-on-year rise in the number of electric and hybrid vehicles brought in for end-of-life processing. As the race for reduced emissions intensifies and these vehicles become both older and more commonplace, demand for their associated green parts will continue to increase.
“Technologies and manufacturing techniques will continue to evolve, but the need to reuse and recycle vehicles will remain. Now is the perfect time to invest in our ability to efficiently process electric cars and prepare for increased future demand.”
Figures released by the company mirror the growing popularity of electric cars and the results of external studies. According to SYNETIQ’s data since 2015 the Mk2 Prius has been both SYNETIQ’s most frequently processed hybrid and most popular green parts donor vehicle. Battery packs are currently the most popular and highest value component reused from electrics and Hybrids by SYNETIQ.
Rumboll continued: “The emergence of advanced powertrain technologies, operating high voltage systems and posing electric car-specific risks such as thermal runaway, has altered best practice for the way they are treated, handled and stored.
“Vehicle end-of-life consideration has the potential to provide significant emissions savings that complement gains in reducing exhaust gases. Adapting our Winsford site is the first step in ensuring an efficient dismantling process that helps reduce the cost of keeping electric car and vehicles on the road for longer.
“By utilising the four ‘Rs’ approach of reduce, reuse, remanufacture and recycle, SYNETIQ operates a fully integrated approach to ensuring that, where possible, vehicles are kept in life and, when they can’t be put back on the road, their parts are compliantly dismantled to maximise reuse and minimise environmental impact.”
