Europe's Battery Recycling Industry Faces Economic Challenges and New Business Models
The European battery recycling sector is currently losing resources due to high costs and inefficiencies in material recovery. A new EU project, SAFELOOP, aims to address these issues through innovative business models and improved battery management.
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The SAFELOOP project, initiated in 2024 with a budget of 4.7 million euros, involves 15 institutions from 11 countries focusing on enhancing battery safety and sustainability in electric vehicles. Current recycling processes are inefficient, with a loss of approximately 1.90 euros per kilogram of battery pack due to costly hazardous material transport and labor-intensive disassembly.
Transporting lithium-ion batteries is, on average, 16 times more expensive than standard cargo. The research team recommends establishing coordinating companies to manage battery packs throughout their life cycles, aiming for equitable cost distribution among manufacturers, operators, and recyclers. Companies focused solely on battery recycling tend to perform worse financially than those with diversified operations, indicating a need for new business models.
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