BMW develops a closed recycling loop for reusing EV battery materials in China

In another attempt to make progress to achieve climate neutrality, BMW has created a closed-loop for reusing raw materials like nickel, lithium and cobalt from high-voltage batteries which are no longer suitable for electric vehicles. BMW Brilliance Automotive joint venture (BBA) has created this cycle of reuse in China for the first time. BMW stated these batteries will come from fully as well as partially-electric development vehicles, test systems and rejects made during production. BMW also intends to use batteries for this purpose from end-of-life electric vehicles in the future.

To achieve this, BMW will work with a local recycler that will dismantle retired batteries and use the latest innovation to recover a high percentage of the raw materials from these EV batteries. The raw materials obtained through this process will be used to produce new battery cells for BMW. The premium automaker mentioned that the closed-loop material cycle leads to the conservation of resources and also reduces CO2 emissions by 70 per cent compared to the process of fresh extraction of primary materials.

BMW shared China's current policies require developing a high-voltage battery tracing system to track batteries and recycle them once retired. Hence, BMW has developed a system through coding that will help in tracing the batteries throughout their lifecycle. The coding will ensure batteries from the entire value chain, from initial test vehicles to vehicles already in the market, can be professionally recycled.

Head of BMW Group Region China Jochen Goller shared since these resources and finite and the rising prices of raw materials are also a big concern, these circular economies increase the percentage of reusable materials and reduce the dependence on raw materials. “The BMW Group will expand its recycling concept in China in the future – which will not only contribute to environmental protection but also effectively support China’s transition to a low-CO2 economy," added Goller.