Paris (AFP)

With the boom in electric cars, millions of batteries are expected to reach the end of their life in a few years: recycling industries are preparing across the world to accelerate the pace.

These batteries are mines of materials, weighing up to 500 kilos and representing up to 50% of the value of an electric vehicle.

The extraction of these materials and the assembly of the batteries are extremely polluting and expensive.

To make this production profitable, we must first extend the life of these batteries, which can serve eight to fifteen years in a vehicle before losing power, but also give them a second life, in homes for example.

But the potential for recycling seems huge: it could help reduce global demand in 2040 by 25% for lithium, 35% for cobalt and nickel and 55% for copper, according to a report from the Institute for Sustainable Futures. (ISF) at Sydney University of Technology, Australia.

In an industrial zone in the middle of fields, in eastern France, the recycler Veolia built a pilot plant on its EuroDieuze site, which mainly recovered small telephone or computer batteries.

"The proportions are different, but the components are the same", explains Pascal Muller, regional director at Veolia.

The battery is discharged, stripped of its plastic and electronic casing, as well as the aluminum sheets that hold the cells - the cores of the battery.

These cells must then be ground into a powder from which the different metals will be extracted and sorted, by fire or by chemistry.

Assembly of batteries for electric cars at the PSA Peugeot Citroën plant in Trnava, Slovakia, July 16, 2020 VLADIMIR SIMICEK AFP / Archives

Safety is essential: in addition to electrical risks, all these modules are covered with highly flammable and polluting solvents.

"For the moment, we are on a lot of manual operations", underlines Pascal Muller, who seeks with partners to "automate certain operations".

- "Colossal projections" -

Manufacturers manage to recycle 60% of the weight of batteries, according to the ISF.

"It is technically possible to recover these four metals (lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper) at more than 90%, but there is a lack of economic or regulatory reasons which could encourage the use of recycled materials", underlines the institute.

The European Commission wants to require manufacturers to integrate a minimum of recycled materials into batteries from 2030, up to 12% cobalt, 4% lithium and 4% nickel.

This recycling, which could become massive and profitable, arouses interest.

The Chinese industry is ahead, according to observers: the battery manufacturer CATL has just announced the construction of a recycling plant for 32 billion yuan (4.3 billion euros) in the province of Hubei (center from China).

A mechanic removes the battery from an end-of-life electric car at the Indra vehicle recycling plant in Romorantin, central France, September 9, 2021 Eric PIERMONT AFP

In the United States, one of the founders of Tesla raised $ 500 million in July to expand its recycling plant, Redwood.

In northern Sweden, the start-up Northvolt is due to launch a factory in 2022 capable of recycling 25,000 tonnes of batteries per year.

This young giant, a partner of Volkswagen and BMW, promises to use up to 50% of recycled materials by 2030 to produce batteries in its neighboring "gigafactory" in Skellefteå.

This recycling project - called "Revolt" - is essential in the carbon footprint - and communication - of the company, which promises to be the "greenest" in Europe for the production of high-power electric batteries.

The French nuclear giant Orano (ex-Areva) has also launched a pilot project.

"The projections for the tonnage of batteries to be recycled are colossal. We are already talking about 500,000 tonnes to be recycled in 2030," says Didier David, director of this project.

At Xinwangda Electric Vehicle Battery Co. Ltd's lithium battery production plant in Nanjing, east China, March 12, 2021 STR AFP / Archives

Orano will apply its nuclear know-how in handling "complicated objects", recycling and hydrometallurgy, a technique used for uranium extraction.

"Everything is not standardized and each manufacturer has its own recipes. The next step will be to find the necessary financing and the customers to accelerate", explains Didier David.

At Northvolt, environmental manager Emma Nehrenheim is worried: "All the forecasts we had until now were below reality. Battery production is constantly growing and there is a risk that Europe is not ready. (...) We must act now ".

© 2021 AFP