Toyota taking steps towards commercial battery recycling

The US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory is teaming up with Toyota Motor North America to enhance battery recycling.

The partners want to develop a direct recycling process for lithium-ion batteries. Their research will target cathode chemistries made of nickel, manganese, and cobalt batteries.

Toyota will provide Argonne with both end-of-life and new automotive batteries. These will be subjected to a patent-pending recycling method. Argonne will adapt its innovative technology with the help of TRINA, Toyota’s in-house entity for exploring next-generation technologies. Together, they will validate a proof-of-concept study.

The objective is recovering critical battery materials from end-of-life batteries as well as manufacturing scrap.

The carmaker expects the project will deliver a ‘net improvement’ in battery materials manufacturing costs, waste and carbon footprint.  

‘We are eager to identify the appropriate pathway for the potential future commercialisation of this technology,’ says Sarah Kennedy, operations manager of Toyota’s Battery Lifecycle Solutions Business Development team.