Finding ways to better recycle electric car batteries in the future

LONDON: The future recycling of electric car batteries raises a number of challenges, from the recovery of raw materials to their reuse. A study published by IDTechEx provides some answers.

The report, titled "Second-life Electric Vehicle Batteries 2025-2035: Markets, Forecasts, Players, and Technologies," conducted by IDTechEx, analyses the market for second-life electric vehicle batteries worldwide over the period 2025-2035.

IDTechEx forecasts that the market for second-life electric vehicle batteries could reach US$4.2 billion by 2035.

After an initial lifespan of around 10 years in an electric car, lithium-ion batteries currently in circulation can be reused in less demanding applications, such as stationary energy storage or low-power electric mobility solutions (mopeds, bicycles or electric scooters), thus extending their lifespan and contributing to a circular economy.

This research reports that it is both more practical and more economical to repurpose used electric car batteries for this type of use.

But while, on paper, this solution appears to be the most attractive, it nevertheless presents both technical and economic challenges.

Unsurprisingly, China is already well ahead in terms of the deployment of second-life batteries, notably for backup power applications. Europe and the United States are still in the process of developing storage solutions.

Recycling all rare earths is a challenge with both ecological and economic dimensions.

Within the next 10 years, all the lithium recycled in Europe alone could help produce over two million electric cars.

The targets are both ecological, by reducing the mining of rare earths and the accumulation of waste, and economic, by limiting costs.

This is why numerous experiments are currently underway to help recover and recycle rare metals from batteries. Researchers at the University of Edinburgh, for example, are working on the role of certain bacteria in recovering these metals from used batteries.

The idea is to use them to recycle as many of these materials as possible, which are useful in the production of electric cars and wind turbines.

In France, a pilot plant for recycling electric vehicle batteries has already been inaugurated in Trappes. Its aim is to extract precious metals from used batteries, so that they can be reused in a new production cycle.

The plant is a 1:1,000 scale replica of the one due to open in Dunkirk in 2027.