Daimler Truck North America reveals recycling strategy
Daimler Truck will focus on the three ‘R’s’ for its plan: Remanufacture, Repurpose and Recycle. This breaks down as follows: If a battery or vehicle component is damaged and “beyond simple repair”, it is to be sent to one of the Detroit Diesel Remanufacturing locations in the USA, where the part will undergo a process of partial disassembly, module replacement and rigorous testing for optimized reliability. Daimler Truck points out that this is a “cost-effective solution that improves the total cost of ownership, benefiting both DTNA’s customers and the environment.”
For its repurpose aspect, a partnership with Nuvation Energy was set up to pilot battery energy storage systems (BESS), to assist in charging, peak shaving, backup storage and microgrid scenarios. This would allow batteries that are too worn out for use in a car to find a second life use and be used to help alleviate peak grid capacity.
Should the steps mentioned above not be sufficient, the last option for Daimler Truck North America is to recycle the components. This includes a newly signed collaboration with Li-Cycle for recycling. Here, DTNA points out that “Li-Cyle uses an environmentally friendly and safe method that recycles batteries within a liquid-based solution, achieving up to a 95% recovery rate for returning critical materials back to the battery supply chain while producing minimal water discharge.”
“This circular approach extends beyond just batteries. We are actively working to apply this concept to other facets of our product development, aiming to increase our utilization of reusable or recyclable materials. Our goal is to continue contributing positively to the preservation of our planet for future generations,” said Rakesh Aneja, vice president and chief of Zero-Emission Transformation Group at DTNA. “Our primary goal is to repair our lithium-ion battery materials and reduce the consumption of new resources.”
These measures are part of Daimler Truck North America’s plan to achieve carbon neutrality for all new products and services from direct suppliers in Europe, the United States, and Japan by 2039.
Daimler Truck is now the first German manufacturer to take an approach to recycling this year, as VW announced a battery recycling cooperation in the UK in February. Other truck manufacturers, such as MAN are also looking to prolong the use of their batteries, while Iveco and BASF joined forces to tackle the issue with used commercial vehicle batteries. BASF also has an ongoing cooperation with Stena Recycling for this purpose.
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