Recently, General Motors has been working on the creation of EVs utilizing batteries that contain 100% recycled nickel, cobalt and manganese, creating environmentally friendly cells that work at the same level of efficiency as other similar batteries. The company completed the loop recycling pilot with partners such as Cirba Solutions, a battery recycling material and management company and more.
This project was able to take the critical minerals from end-of-life General Motor battery packs, process them and then return them to the supply chain where the parts were capable of being utilized in new battery cells. These new battery cells were produced by a company named Ultium Cells, which is General Motor’s joint venture with LG Energy Solution, another battery production company. These batteries were then assembled into the battery modules for use in vehicles.
This process first began when Cirba Solutions had the idea of disassembling General Motors’ old battery packs for the cars and attempting to recover all of the material that is capable of being reused. Then, at a battery recycling facility in Ohio, the batteries were shredded and processed into a form called Black Mass, which is a concentrated material containing valuable minerals recovered from recycled lithium-ion batteries.
After this Black Mass is acquired, it must be refined and then validated before being turned into new cathode active material as nickel, cobalt and manganese used in the new cells must meet specifications and standards. After it is refined during specific processes, the cathode active material contains 100% recycled nickel, cobalt and manganese.
“This pilot shows that the value of an EV battery can extend well beyond its first life – and that strong partnerships across the battery ecosystem are essential to building a more circular, resilient future for battery technology,” Melissa Flaherty, the Director of Sustainable EV Battery Ecosystem at GM, said.
This approach is becoming increasingly more important as the number of retired EV batteries grows. About 14 million EV batteries are projected to reach the end of their lives by the year 2040, which will only further affect the global battery demand if these materials are not recycled. Recovering these battery materials domestically could reduce demand for newly mined minerals while also providing the manufacturers of these batteries with another source of these cathode active materials. The same recycling infrastructure could also process batteries from other major technical facilities like energy storage systems and data centers.
“Battery recycling is an important, intersecting component across the battery supply chain, and this program effectively demonstrates the value that recycling end-of-life batteries brings to creating a closed-loop supply of critical minerals,” David Klanecky, President and CEO of Cirba Solutions, said. Many of the companies recycling these batteries also state that expanding this recycling trend will strengthen the battery supply chain while also reducing the dependence on new critical minerals.
As of now, the first vehicles powered by these batteries which contain the recycled cathode material were just introduced to the production lines this month and are now on their way to customers, according to General Motors.
