BRUSSELS (Scrap Register): Audi and Umicore have successfully completed the test phase of their strategic research cooperation. The result is that more than 90 percent of the cobalt and nickel in the high-voltage batteries of the Audi e-tron can be recovered.
The car manufacturer and the materials technology and recycling expert are therefore now entering the next phase. As of January, the partners will cooperate on a closed loop for cobalt and nickel. The recovered materials will be used in new battery cells.
For this closed-loop pilot project, Umicore will receive cell modules from the Audi e-tron model, which will initially be taken from development vehicles. From those cells, the materials technology expert will recover cobalt and nickel, and process them into precursor and cathode materials.
From this, new battery cells containing recycled cobalt and nickel can be produced. Since the beginning of development of its first fully electric cars, Audi has worked on the recycling of the vehicle.
The company aims to apply resources efficiently and purposely pursues this idea in all directions. In the future, further recycling skills are to be developed.
