Tesla Pushes Battery Recycling Efforts, Promises 92% Material Recovery

Tesla on Monday claimed that its unique battery recycling system is capable of recovering up to 92% from its battery packs. Through its 2020 Impact Report, the automaker unveiled more details about its large-scale recycling system.

In its report, Tesla revealed more details about its effort to be capable of battery manufacturing scrap and end-of-life battery in-house processing. The report further revealed the successful installation of the first phase of the Gigafactory Nevada cell recycling facility.

Tesla believes that in-house cell manufacturing will help the company recycle materials from its end-of-life battery packs to the fullest possible capacity. This could result in as high as 92% material recovery, which helps lower the number of battery parts ending up in landfills.

“As the manufacturer of our in-house cell program, we are best positioned to recycle our products efficiently to maximize key battery material recovery," Tesla said.

For years, Tesla has been working with third-party recyclers. With the company’s migration to in-house cell manufacturing, Tesla believes that it will achieve its goal of high material recovery rates as well as a low manufacturing cost and less environmental impact.

Back in 2019, Tesla confirmed that it is developing a unique battery recycling system that aims to create significant savings in the long run. The automaker introduced the recycling system far different from how other companies manage the disposal of their old battery packs.

Big auto companies such as BMW and Hyundai use their old battery pack for energy storage systems. Meanwhile, Tesla’s unique battery recycling system maximizes the recycling of battery components to make new ones.

A part of the Tesla Impact Report revealed that the company recycled huge amounts of valuable materials from end-of-life approaching batteries. The automaker said it recovered 1,200 tons of nickel, 400 tons of copper, and 80 tons of cobalt -- enough materials to create new battery packs.

In March, several companies called for a moratorium on deep-sea mining, where battery makers extract key battery materials such as cobalt, nickel, copper and manganese. Among the companies backing the call and committed not to source any deep seabed mining are BMW, AB Volvo Group, Google and Samsung SDI.