Battery recycling crucial to EV transition, execs say

SAN DIEGO — As the shift away from internal combustion engines accelerates towards the end of the decade, executives from automakers and major battery suppliers told the Advanced Automotive Battery Conference that the auto industry will need to find ways to recycle electric vehicle batteries. I said yes.

Automakers such as Ford Motor Co. have signed deals with lithium, nickel and other materials suppliers to meet their EV production targets by the second half of the decade from 2025, says Ford’s Battery Cell Research and Advanced Technology. said Ted Miller, senior manager of engineering.

But the industry faces “greater risks” from 2030, and companies are “working feverishly” to address those threats, he said.

“Never before has there been so much demand for lithium on the planet,” Miller said at a conference on Wednesday.

Companies are pouring billions of dollars into new mining and processing facilities around the world, but it will take more than a decade for new U.S. mines to start extracting materials. , there’s no time to wait, as California aims to meet mandates such as banning the sale of new gasoline vehicles by 2035.

Timothy Grew, general director of electrification strategy and cell engineering at General Motors, said recycling is key to providing automakers and battery manufacturers with enough material to produce battery cells for the next decade or more. said to have the potential to play a role.

GM hopes to source at least 75% of its battery materials from within North America by 2030, Grewe said. The returned vehicles “could actually be the best source of critical materials,” he said.

“We need to work with recyclers to ensure that the recycled material performs as well as what can be mined,” says Grewe.

— John Irwin