Trumpf develops laser processes to recycle EV batteries

Germany-based battery recycling Trumpf says automakers and battery manufacturers now can recycle used or defective batteries from electric vehicles (EVs) on an industrial scale using its laser technology.

The company says it develops laser systems that cut used batteries safely and remove valuable raw materials from the battery foil.

“Recycling batteries makes ecological sense, and thanks to laser technology, can now also be implemented economically,” says Hagen Zimer, CEO of laser technology at Trumpf. “Trumpf can draw on extensive expertise in laser welding and cutting for the production of e-car batteries.

“We have been working with all leading car and battery manufacturers for years. We have incorporated this experience into the development of the new processes.”

The company notes that the extraction of raw materials found in batteries, such as lithium, cobalt and nickel, is expensive and not always sustainable, and that manufacturers also have to accept long and uncertain supply chains. Additionally, the European Union requires a recycling rate of up to 90 percent for batteries. In Europe alone, Trumpf says the industry will have to recycle 570,000 tons of battery material annually from 2030.

“The industry, therefore, has to recycle on a large scale,” says Alexander Sauer, head of the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA. “The market for laser processes for recycling batteries, which is currently emerging, is huge.”

The electrodes for new battery cells are created as foil strips coated with valuable materials such as cobalt and nickel. In a future recycling plant, Trumpf says laser processes can remove the wafer-thin layer from the foil, and manufacturers can collect the precious dust and process it for new coatings when, previously, coated foil often wound up as “waste in the garbage.”

Trumpf says that laser technology also could be used to recycle battery packs in the future, with that technology serving as the only way to ensure efficient and automated dismantling when removing covers from batteries or to cut off cables, for example. Raw materials then can be sorted, and the battery cells that are still usable can be separated and reused directly.

“Until now, dismantling electric car batteries has been a manual process,” the company says. “It is laborious, slow and sometimes dangerous for workers.”