Tesla recycles up to 92 percent of the materials in battery cells

When it comes to mobility, we will have to increasingly electrify road traffic over the next few decades. Until recently, there was still the problem that electric cars were hardly more environmentally friendly or even more polluting than conventionally powered vehicles over their lifecycle. One reason for this was, in particular, the large amount of energy required for production, but recycling e-cars is also still difficult.

Tesla has taken a big step forward here and has now announced that it has been able to recover around 92 percent of the materials in its own battery cells. The company’s great efforts are finally bearing fruit. Because both internally and with partners, better recycling methods have been researched for years.

For this purpose, a separate building complex is to be built in the Gigafactory Nevada, in which the scrap that is generated during production and used batteries are to be recycled. The new method seems promising and should also be comparatively easy to scale.

Tesla has a special position here. Because the car manufacturer not only produces its vehicles, but also the batteries required for them. The raw materials required, such as nickel and cobalt, are now also being mined.

With the new method, Tesla has already recycled 1,300 tons of nickel, 400 tons of copper and 80 tons of cobalt in 2020. If the process is actually so promising and the yield of materials continues to increase, then Tesla could become the most sustainable manufacturer of electric cars.

Own opinion:

With the current course, Tesla is on the right track when it comes to sustainability. E-vehicles still have a lot of catching up to do with manufacturing and recycling, and a lot has already been achieved here. Now it remains to be seen what the competition from Stuttgart, Munich or Wolfsburg will do.

Via Electrek