Renault Takes Circular View of Battery Recycling
By Edward A. Sanchez – March 23, 2021
This week, France’s Groupe Renault released a video and press release outlining their vision for total lifecycle management of EV batteries, including second-life use in utility-scale energy storage, as well as ultimate raw material extraction and recycling. To help realize this vision, it is employing the expertise of two other giants of European industry, Veolia and Solvay.
EV batteries are considered to be near the end of their useful life when they can no longer hold 80% of their original engineered capacity. But they are by no means useless in the greater scheme of things. Used EV batteries can be used for utility-grade storage for up to another decade after their original use.
The reconditioning of EV batteries is an important part of an electrified future, as Renault points out.
But all good things must come to an end, and when that time comes, Veolia and Solvay enter the picture with their respective expertise of environmental management and chemical deconstruction. The first step is the somewhat brutal process of mechanical destruction of the cells into fingernail-sized scrap pieces, and then chemically processing the scrap pieces to extract the purest form of the minerals to reuse in the production of new batteries.
Pascal Muller, Veolia’s Regional Director of Hazardous Waste for North and Eastern France, explains in the accompanying video (below) that the idea is to create virtual “urban mines” for these valuable metals and minerals that aren’t native or abundant in Europe to create a closed-loop ecosystem.
But Renault itself is no Johnny-come-lately to the concept of battery recycling, having repurposed its Flins facility northwest of Paris to deal with battery repair and recycling in anticipation of its Zoe battery-electric compact car launched in 2012. Renault is dubbing its closed-loop battery recycling initiative at Flins the “Re-Factory.” Among the stated goals of the initiative are re-powering combustion models to battery electric, reconditioning battery packs for resale and, finally, physical recycling of spent cells. Renault is aiming for 20,000 pack repairs by 2030.
The Flins Re-Factory will also be open for use by academic and research partners for clean energy technology development, as is explained in this video:
Although Renault claims it is the first OEM to address whole-lifecycle vehicle and environmental management, they are certainly not the only company that is addressing the issue of battery second-life and recycling, with J.B. Straubel’s Redwood Materials and Canada-based Li-Cycle among two noteworthy companies scaling up to address this challenge head-on.
Although among the less-glamorous aspects of EVs, whole lifecycle management and battery recycling is a critical part of the larger conversation and policy surrounding electrified transportation, and an area that we’re sure to see more activity in the years ahead.
(Images courtesy Renault)
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