Toyota presents new battery recycling technology

Toyota Chemical Engineering has developed a new recycling technology for high-voltage batteries. According to Toyota, this allows CO2 emissions to be reduced in the recycling process and more raw materials to be reused.

The initiators explain that the increasing spread of electrified vehicles means that more rare metals such as cobalt and lithium are required in manufacturing. As these materials are only available in limited quantities, the topic of recycling is becoming increasingly important – “also in order to establish a resource-conserving circular economy on the road to climate neutrality.”

Toyota further points out that European battery manufacturers are obliged to process a fixed proportion of rare metals recovered from used batteries from 2031 onwards.

For its new development, Toyota specifies that unlike conventional recycling methods, where used batteries are first processed in an incineration plant before the rare metals are collected and further processed, and are somewhat prone to a higher loss of materials, the new process is safer and has higher yields.

The process functions as follows: the highly flammable electrolyte liquid in accumulators, which favours the movement of ions, is distilled and extracted. Afterwards, the battery cells are then crushed, sorted and fed back into the production process. The recovered parts are large pieces containing aluminium or iron or the so-called ‘black mass’ powder, which contains various rare metals.

Toyota has been steadily ramping up recycling capacities and building out locations around the globe, for example, announcing a partnership with Cirba for battery recycling the USA in 2023, with a material supply deal with the recycling firm Redwood Recycling preceding the announcement by a month. The two companies had started cooperating in 2022. A series of collaborations, including recycling activities, was launched with the Chinese battery giant CATL in 2019.

“Of course, implementing such new processes also means high investment costs,” explained Yumi Otsuka, Chief Sustainability Officer at Toyota. “But it is crucial to take a holistic view of the life cycle of a car. Take our KINTO mobility service, for example. Since we manage the vehicles ourselves, it is easier to ensure reuse and recycle the parts and materials.”

toyota-media.de (in German)