Mercedes-Benz is the first car manufacturer to close the battery loop with the opening of Europe’s first battery recycling plant with an integrated mechanical-hydrometallurgical process.
Unlike existing processes, the expected recovery rate of the mechanical-hydrometallurgical recycling plant is more than 96%. Valuable raw materials such as lithium, nickel and cobalt can be recovered and reused in new batteries for future Mercedes electric vehicles.
“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,” said Ola Källenius, chairman of the board of management of Mercedes-Benz Group.
“The future of the automobile is electric, and batteries are an essential component of this. To produce batteries in a resource-conserving and sustainable way, recycling is also key,” added Olaf Scholz, federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Mercedes-Benz’s technology partner for the recycling factory is Primobius – a joint venture between German plant and mechanical engineering company SMS Group and Australian process technology developer Neometals. The plant is receiving funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action as part of a scientific research project with three German universities.
For the first time in Europe, the Mercedes-Benz battery recycling plant covers all steps from shredding battery modules to drying and processing active battery materials. The mechanical process sorts and separates plastics, copper, aluminum and iron in a multi-stage process. The valuable metals cobalt, nickel and lithium are extracted individually in another multi-stage chemical process. These recyclates are suitable for use in the production of new battery cells.
The hydrometallurgical process is less intensive than pyrometallurgy in terms of energy consumption and material waste. Its low process temperatures of up to 80°C mean it consumes less energy. Additionally, like all Mercedes production plants, the recycling plant operates in a net carbon-neutral manner. It is supplied with 100% green electricity. The roof of the 6800m2 building is equipped with a photovoltaic system with a peak output of more than 350kW.
The Mercedes-Benz battery recycling plant in Kuppenheim has an annual capacity of 2,500 metric tons. The recovered materials feed into the production of more than 50,000 battery modules for new all-electric Mercedes-Benz models.