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The Bosch Group estimates that electric vehicles will comprise ~70% of all newly registered passenger cars in Europe by 2030. This is increasing demand for batteries and for the recycling of the raw materials they contain, such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel. Bosch has now developed special machinery, equipment, and software to do this. Its subsidiary Bosch Rexroth is supplying the so-called Battery Lifecycle Company*, a joint venture between REMONDIS subsidiary TSR Recycling and Rhenus Automotive, with what’s claimed to be Europe’s first fully automated system for discharging and disassembling battery modules.
“Electromobility can only establish itself in the long term if sufficient raw materials are available for battery production. Recycling plays a key role here, and helps place our output on a sustainable footing: we reuse what we use, and we recover raw materials,” says Dr. Stefan Hartung, chairman of the Bosch board of management.
Growing numbers of electric cars combined with limited resources and increasing legal requirements for recycling – the challenges are increasing. Some predict that by 2030, Europe will require recycling capacity for up to 420,000 metric tons of battery material each year (Fraunhofer ISI, 2023).
“If we want to build a European circular economy, we need to integrate recycling firmly into the product life cycle and create the necessary infrastructure to do so. Bosch is contributing its technical expertise to this,” Hartung says. Bosch will present industrial technology for battery recycling at Hannover Messe (April 17–21, 2023).
*Battery Lifecycle Company
BLC is building Europe’s first fully automated plant at its site in Magdeburg, with Bosch Rexroth supplying the technology. The site will test used batteries from different manufacturers, deep-discharge them, and prepare them for shredding. The new plant’s workpiece carriers will each transport battery materials weighing up to 150 kilograms at a speed of 18 meters per second. This means that it will take less than 15 minutes to automatically discharge eight lithium-ion batteries from electric cars. Bosch claims automation will greatly increase the speed of recycling: with the manual process currently used, it takes up to 24 hours to deep-discharge a battery.
The model project in Magdeburg is the first to use this patented Bosch discharging method: battery modules will be chemically deactivated, ensuring that further processing can take place without voltage. The residual energy in the modules can be used to operate the recycling system. In addition, the site will use existing Bosch industrial technology for battery production on-site, including flexible, modular transfer systems and the ctrlX AUTOMATION control platform. Each year, the Battery Lifecycle Company site will recycle up to 15,000 metric tons of battery materials. The plant is scheduled to go into operation in summer 2023.
Bosch to Build First Automated Battery Recycling Plant
Click for more information.
The Bosch Group estimates that electric vehicles will comprise ~70% of all newly registered passenger cars in Europe by 2030. This is increasing demand for batteries and for the recycling of the raw materials they contain, such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel. Bosch has now developed special machinery, equipment, and software to do this. Its subsidiary Bosch Rexroth is supplying the so-called Battery Lifecycle Company*, a joint venture between REMONDIS subsidiary TSR Recycling and Rhenus Automotive, with what’s claimed to be Europe’s first fully automated system for discharging and disassembling battery modules.
“Electromobility can only establish itself in the long term if sufficient raw materials are available for battery production. Recycling plays a key role here, and helps place our output on a sustainable footing: we reuse what we use, and we recover raw materials,” says Dr. Stefan Hartung, chairman of the Bosch board of management.
Growing numbers of electric cars combined with limited resources and increasing legal requirements for recycling – the challenges are increasing. Some predict that by 2030, Europe will require recycling capacity for up to 420,000 metric tons of battery material each year (Fraunhofer ISI, 2023).
“If we want to build a European circular economy, we need to integrate recycling firmly into the product life cycle and create the necessary infrastructure to do so. Bosch is contributing its technical expertise to this,” Hartung says. Bosch will present industrial technology for battery recycling at Hannover Messe (April 17–21, 2023).
*Battery Lifecycle Company
BLC is building Europe’s first fully automated plant at its site in Magdeburg, with Bosch Rexroth supplying the technology. The site will test used batteries from different manufacturers, deep-discharge them, and prepare them for shredding. The new plant’s workpiece carriers will each transport battery materials weighing up to 150 kilograms at a speed of 18 meters per second. This means that it will take less than 15 minutes to automatically discharge eight lithium-ion batteries from electric cars. Bosch claims automation will greatly increase the speed of recycling: with the manual process currently used, it takes up to 24 hours to deep-discharge a battery.
The model project in Magdeburg is the first to use this patented Bosch discharging method: battery modules will be chemically deactivated, ensuring that further processing can take place without voltage. The residual energy in the modules can be used to operate the recycling system. In addition, the site will use existing Bosch industrial technology for battery production on-site, including flexible, modular transfer systems and the ctrlX AUTOMATION control platform. Each year, the Battery Lifecycle Company site will recycle up to 15,000 metric tons of battery materials. The plant is scheduled to go into operation in summer 2023.