Volvo, CATL sign partnership on battery recycling and material reuse.
Volvo Cars signed a memorandum of strategic cooperation with Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL, SHE: 300750) on April 16 to work together in the area of battery recycling.
The partnership aims to promote the recycling of battery materials and reduce the carbon footprint of electric vehicles (EVs) throughout their life cycle, the automaker said in a statement today.
Power batteries contain a variety of non-renewable metal elements and their carbon emissions from mining and processing account for a significant proportion of the battery production cycle, Volvo said.
On the other hand, with the rapid development of China’s EV market, a large number of power batteries will gradually come to the end of their life, and retired batteries that are not properly disposed of will pose a serious challenge to the environment, the automaker said.
Volvo and CATL will reduce EV full life cycle carbon emissions by dismantling, recycling and reusing used batteries, according to the statement.
Volvo will recycle retired batteries from EVs it sells, as well as batteries scrapped during factory production.
These batteries will be dismantled by Volvo-certified suppliers to extract more than 90 percent of the nickel, cobalt, lithium and other metal materials.
CATL will use these recycled materials to produce new batteries that will be used in the production of new Volvo vehicles, according to the statement.
The agreement is an important milestone in building a battery recycling, closed-loop business model in China, opening a new chapter in closed-loop management of the battery cycle, said Tan Libin, co-president of CATL’s marketing system.
Volvo unveiled its sustainability strategy in 2019, aiming to reach an average of 30 percent recycled material use across its entire model range by 2030, and to include at least 35 percent recycled materials in new models produced from 2030 onwards.
Volvo is committed to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, which will require a concerted effort from supplier partners across the chain, said Li Hai, vice president of supply chain for the automaker’s Asia-Pacific region.
