Recycling EV Battery Metals : Electric Vehicle Battery Value Chain Collaboration between Veolia, Groupe Renault and Solvay
By 2030, the number of electric vehicles on the road worldwide is expected to rise to 100 million, from 10 million today. Ensuring access to responsibly sourced raw materials to keep up with this growth is a strategic challenge for Europe.
Veolia, Groupe Renault, and Solvay started a new type of collaboration in the electric vehicle battery value chain with the goal to preserve resources, reduce carbon emissions and create value. With their partnership, announced in the first half of 2021, they are combining their expertise to recycle the metals in electric vehicle batteries in a closed loop.
Groupe Renault is contributing in this collaboration with its expertise in electric vehicle battery life cycle management, Solvay with its expertise in the chemical extraction of battery metals, and Veolia with its 10 years of experience in dismantling and recycling lithium-ion batteries via a hydrometallurgical process. The consortium created in September 2020 between Veolia and Solvay is strengthened with the addition of automotive expertise through Groupe Renault.
The three partners aim to create a secure and sustainable source of supply for cobalt, nickel and lithium. They are leveraging their respective expertise at each step of the value chain - from collection of end-of-life batteries to dismantling, metal extraction and purification – and by enhancing existing hydrometallurgical recycling processes. With Solvay and Veolia's technologies, strategic materials will be extracted and purified into high-purity material ready to be reused in new batteries, thereby reducing their environmental footprint through this closed loop. Groupe Renault, Veolia and Solvay are committed to setting up a pre-industrial demo plant in France.
Luca de Meo, CEO of Renault, declared: "Groupe Renault has a holistic approach to the battery life cycle: repairing first-life batteries to extend their automotive lifespan, developing second-life applications for energy storage and setting up a system for collecting and recycling batteries. Today, we are proud to reinforce our commitment to battery recycling by joining forces with Veolia and Solvay. We aim at implementing innovative and low-carbon battery recycling solutions to pave the way to sustainable sourcing for strategic battery materials as electric mobility is growing. Together, we will leverage our strong presence on the entire EV value chain in Europe to take a competitive position in the battery materials market and generate value beyond our core business."
Antoine Frérot CEO of Veolia, commented: "Given the magnitude of the environmental issues the world is facing, ecological transformation is an urgent need. With Groupe Renault joining Veolia and Solvay, we are collectively taking a step further towards closed-loop solutions to preserve natural resources. This shows how companies working together can think up and implement new solutions that both better our environment and renew our economies."
Ilham Kadri, CEO of Solvay Group, added: "This consortium is a great example of partnership in the value chain that makes circular economy come true for battery metals. We are thrilled to have Groupe Renault join the consortium and view them as a strategic partner in closing the loop of circularity, bringing input material for recycling and re-injecting purified metals into the battery cycle. This project exemplifies how we walk the talk with our Solvay One Planet sustainability road map as we aim to more than double revenues generated in a circular economy by 2030."