Mercedes’ recycling facility to reduce CO2 by 70% per battery

Between 2019 and 2020, the International Energy Agency reported that the global electric vehicle (EV) market increased by 43%—bringing total EV stock to ten million units. Recognising that supplies of battery metals would be an increasingly important issue, Mercedes-Benz founded the wholly owned subsidiary Licular in 2021.

Using innovative recycling technology and techniques, the start-up’s high recovery separation process can extract up to 96% of cobalt, lithium and nickel from old EV batteries. Lithium-ion batteries (Li-ion or LIBs), one of the most prevalent configurations, has an operational lifespan between ten and 20 years. As such, Licular anticipates an influx of recyclable material by the early 2030s.