Porsche Wants to Recycle Old EV Batteries for its Next-Gen Vehicles

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Electric cars are undoubtedly better for the environment as far as their carbon footprint is concerned. Yes, this is true even if you use electricity from coal power plants. However, all those nasty chemicals found in lithium-ion batteries are extremely harmful to the environment, meaning battery waste is a huge point of concern. Producing batteries is raw-material intensive, too.

Fortunately, a few automakers already work on battery recycling; Toyota announced a battery circular economy in 2023, and now Porsche has run a pilot project on how to approach this lingering issue. Notably, the German premium automaker is testing a closed-loop raw material cycle for high-voltage batteries — recovering precious elements like nickel, cobalt, lithium, and manganese from old battery packs and repurposing them into new ones.

The recycling process takes place in three phases. Phase one: shredding the batteries to create a gritty, metal-rich granulate called “black mass.” So far, Porsche has produced 65 tons of it, meaning it has large-scale potential. Then comes the refinement part. The goal here is to recover battery-grade raw materials — not just scrap — so Porsche can maintain the same high-performance standards it’s known for. So, meticulously cleaning the materials from impurities is crucial.

Once these materials are up to spec, Porsche plans to use a defined proportion of these recycled materials to produce new high-voltage battery cells. Crucially, quality should be the same as before.

“With the help of innovative recycling processes, we strive to increase our independence from volatile and geopolitically unstable raw material markets,” says Barbara Frenkel, Executive Board Member for Procurement at Porsche. “Circular Economy is a core pillar of our sustainability strategy, and with this pilot project, we want to underscore our ambitions.”

Porsche aims to reduce its environmental footprint while staying ahead of the EU’s 2031 battery regulations, which are set to enforce stricter sourcing and recycling rules. Ramping up the battery recycling operation will undoubtedly accelerate the automaker’s effort toward achieving that goal.

Ashton Henning