We pay a visit to Ecobat’s facility in the West Midlands, which isleading the way in the recycling of battery packs from vehicles that are being scrapped
Matt Robinson
ONE of the most common issues brought up by those sceptical of electric vehicles is what will happen to the battery packs once a car is destined for the scrapheap. With EV sales having shot up dramatically in recent years, and various governments plotting the end of new petrol and diesel-car sales next decade, it seems logical to assume that in time we’ll have scores of old packs to deal with.
The thing is, car makers are responsible for the battery packs that go in their vehicles right up until the end of their life, so it should come as no surprise when a company like Renault announces its intentions to recycle them as part of a “360-degree circular economy”. Meanwhile others, like Honda, have announced partnerships with specialist firms.
What you might not know is that most OEMs are already working with one firm for end-of-life and second-life hybrid and EV battery work. That company is Ecobat, which has a large recycling centre located right here in the UK, in Darlaston, West Midlands. We were invited to take a look around to see what happens at the facility.
A large part of Ecobat’s business concerns the recycling of conventional batteries, such as lead-acid car batteries and alkaline/zinc batteries from consumer electronics (if you’ve ever stopped to wonder where your old AAs end up after you’ve posted them into supermarket collection bins and the like, wonder no more). However, recycling old batteries from hybrid and electric vehicles has become an increasingly large part of the operation.
Ecobat buys the regular batteries en masse so it can recover and sell on materials, but its relationship with EVs’ and hybrids’ batteries is very different. A car manufacturer’s whole-life responsibility for its battery packs means that, if a battery needs to be assessed and possibly recycled, Ecobat’s services are engaged to find a solution.
“A lot of people think that recycling is something that happens at the end of the battery’s life,” explains Ecobat’s EU marketing director, Peter Coleman, adding, “But we’ll get involved at any stage of that battery’s life, with the goal being to achieve maximum life for a battery.”
