Electric car batteries can now be recycled almost entirely, but there is a ‘problem’ that makes mining essential

A few weeks ago, Mercedes-Benz inaugurated a battery recycling plant in which they are capable of recovering almost one hundred percent of the original raw materials from old batteries. An impressive figure, far above the first pilot tests they did. However, although they can recycle a large part, it will not prevent further mining.

Despite advances in recycling, Mercedes you will always need to mine rare earths to manufacture electric car batteries, according to the head of the German company’s supply chain. And with the rest of the raw materials, many years of mining will still be needed.

The new battery recycling plant is in Kuppenheim (Germany) and has a production capacity of about 2,500 tons per year of cobalt, copper, manganese, nickel and lithium, enough to make 5,000 new batteries each year.

It is a great advance, but it barely covers a small portion of the demand. Last 2023, Mercedes sold 222,600 electric cars worldwide and almost 400,000 plug-in hybrids.

Battery recycling will never reach the point of complete self-sufficiency. We don’t say it, but Jörg BurzerMercedes board member for production, quality and supply chain management in an interview with Coach.

“I think we will always need 20, 30 or 40 percent [de materiales obtenidos mediante la minería]. If recycling is in full swing sometime around 2040, a large portion of raw materials from mines will still be needed,” says Burzer.

It will take “three to four years” to reach annual production of 2,500 tons, Burzer said. This is because There are currently a limited number of batteries at the end of their useful lifebecause Mercedes electric cars are still relatively new. Its first series production electric car was the Mercedes EQC, which was launched on the market in 2018. The next generation of electric cars, such as the EQE, EQS or EQB, among others, arrived from 2021 and 2022.

It is evident that before you can recycle batteries, you have to have stock of them. Not only that, but they have to be old, end-of-life batteries for electric vehicles. That is the main reason why it will take several more years for the new Mercedes plant to reach its full capacity of 2,500 tons per year. Many new batteries still need to be produced and that will be done with raw materials from the mines.

Mercedes’ new recycling plant will operate at a lower capacity for the next “three, four or five years.” It will do so, of course, without stopping working to be able to learn about the process and optimize scalability for the future. Meanwhile, the majority of batteries that Mercedes-Benz recycles at this new plant come from test and prototype vehicles. Burzer also said the company is open to accepting batteries from other manufacturers and different chemistries.