Mercedes-Benz today opened Europe’s first battery recycling plant with an integrated mechanical-hydrometallurgical process making it one of the first car manufacturer worldwide to close the battery recycling loop with its own in-house facility.

The recycling plant in Kuppenheim, southern Germany, creates a circular economy. Unlike existing established processes, the expected recovery rate of the mechanical-hydrometallurgical recycling plant is more than 96 percent. Valuable and scarce raw materials such as lithium, nickel and cobalt can be recovered – in a way which is suitable for use in new batteries for future all-electric Mercedes-Benz vehicles.

The company has invested tens of millions of euros in the construction of the new battery recycling plant.

“Mercedes-Benz has set itself the goal of building the most desirable cars in a sustainable way. As a pioneer in automotive engineering, Europe’s first integrated mechanical-hydrometallurgical battery recycling factory marks a key milestone towards enhancing raw-materials sustainability. Together with our partners from industry and science, we are sending a strong signal of innovative strength for sustainable electric mobility and value creation in Germany and Europe.” – Ola Källenius, Chairman of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG

Mercedes-Benz’s technology partner for the battery recycling factory is Primobius, a joint venture between German plant and mechanical engineering company SMS group and Australian process technology developer Neometals.

The plant is receiving funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action as part of a scientific research project with three German universities. The project looks at the entire process chain for recycling, including logistics and reintegration concepts.