First factory opens for recycling Mercedes electric car batteries

The inauguration in Kuppenheim, southern Germany, in the presence of Chancellor Scholz

Europe's first factory for 'in-house' battery recycling

Photo by: Mercedes-Benz

By: Riccardo Ciriaco

Published by: Brian Potter

Oct 22, 2024 at 4:38am ET

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Everyone is talking about battery recycling, because a large part of the development strategy for electric mobility in Europe depends on the reuse of so-called critical materials.

There are several announced or promised projects and even the first plants exist, but so far no car manufacturer has moved directly to set up its own 'factory' capable of recovering, dismantling and recycling battery packs.

Today, Mercedes-Benz took this first step. Yesterday, it opened in Kuppenheim, southern Germany, the first European factory for 'in-house' battery recycling.

How it works

With a 96 per cent recovery rate (where the 4 per cent that is lost is represented by the electrolyte liquid), the plant covers all phases of battery life, from the shredding of modules to the drying and treatment of active materials, thanks to a process defined as 'mechanical-hydrometallurgical', which separates plastic, copper, aluminium and iron mechanically, obtaining the so-called 'black mass'; the latter enters a chemical process functional to the separation and recovery of the most valuable materials.

Europe's first factory for 'in-house' battery recycling

The process used by Mercedes to recycle batteries

Europe's first factory for 'in-house' battery recycling

Mercedes-Benz

In detail, the process starts by placing the modules on a conveyor belt. Here, the batteries are mechanically crushed, washed and separated into very fine fractions.

Then using gravity-based air systems, magnetic separators, a grinder and various sieves, materials such as plastic, copper, aluminium and iron are separated and packed according to type.

At the same time, the black mass is separated by a sequence of chemical precipitation with increasing levels of PH, filtered and further processed to obtain copper, cobalt, manganese, nickel and lithium with purity levels of up to 99.9%.

Mercedes-Benz Kuppenheim plant dimensions 6.800 m2 target recycling of electric car batteries type of process mechanical-hydrometallurgical materials recovered cobalt, lithium, nickel recovery rate > 96% capacity 2,500 t (50,000 modules)

"A milestone

The hydrometallurgical recycling process developed by Mercedes-Benz differs from the most common today in Europe of the pyrometallurgical which requires very high temperatures (the materials are actually burnt) and thus a higher energy consumption.

This is the statement of Ola Kallenius, number one at Mercedes-Benz:

"As a pioneer in automotive engineering the first integrated mechanical-hydrometallurgical battery recycling factory in Europe marks a key milestone towards improving the sustainability of raw materials. 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.

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Unique and green

The new plant also uses 100 per cent green electricity: the 6,800-square-metre roof is equipped with a photovoltaic system with a peak output of more than 350 kilowatts (kW).

Europe's first factory for 'in-house' battery recycling

Solar panels on the factory roof

Mercedes-Benz

The final recycling capacity, Mercedes promises, is 2,500 tonnes of materials per year, needed to produce more than 50,000 battery modules, for a future that - the German manufacturer assures - will always be electric. A confirmation of political intentions that also speaks to Europe was sealed by the presence of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Baden-Württemberg Environment Minister Thekla Walker.