Swiss startup Librec recycles batteries from electric cars
More and more people are buying electric cars. But what happens to the batteries when a vehicle has reached the end of its life and is scrapped? The Swiss startup Librec has developed a sustainable and environmentally conscious solution for recycling electric car batteries.
Electric vehicles are highly trendy. Every year, more Swiss people buy a hybrid or electric vehicle. Last year, hybrid vehicles accounted for around 20% of new passenger car registrations and purely electric vehicles for around 8.3%. Hybrid and electric cars are thus more in demand than ever before. Those who opt for such a vehicle usually do so for the sake of the environment.
Recycling instead of disposal
But what happens to the batteries of electric cars when they are ready for the scrap heap? Until now, the batteries of such cars have regularly been exported abroad for disposal, where they are melted down or dumped in landfills. This approach is not only bad for the environment, but also incurs significant costs because the batteries must be adequately protected against fire hazards for transport. The Swiss startup Librec has developed a recycling solution for electric car batteries that remedies these problems.
High expectations for Swiss startup
The Swiss startup Librec was founded in February 2021 and is based in Oensingen (SO). Expectations for the young company are high. Not only the Federal Office for the Environment (BAFU), but also well-known companies in the Swiss automotive industry as well as Empa, the Swiss Auto-Recycling Foundation, Swiss e-Mobility and the Berne University of Applied Sciences support the startup.
Functional recycling plant by 2024
The young company plans to start building a disposal plant in the canton of Solothurn this year. The new recycling plant is expected to recycle electric vehicle batteries and recover up to 90 percent of the raw materials as early as 2024. In the first year, Librec plans to recycle around 300 tons of batteries from around 1000 electric cars. Around ten years in the future, the startup hopes to be able to recycle more than 3000 tons annually.
Financing through residual energy and material sales
The venture is to be financed through the sale of the extracted raw materials as well as a contribution payable by the users when buying an electric vehicle. In addition, the startup plans to discharge the batteries before recycling them and to use the residual energy to operate the disposal facility. It should be possible to cover more than a quarter of the electricity demand with the residual energy.
Source: Blick article “Schweizer Start-up will Akkus von E-Autos ausschlachten” of April 28, 2021: retrieved from <https://www.blick.ch/auto/service/recyclinganlage-in-solothurn-geplant-schweizer-start-up-will-akkus-von-e-autos-ausschlachten-id16488594.html> on August 13, 2021.
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