Renault to pioneer battery recycling on a mass scale in Europe

Renault's environment unit announced its plans to become the first European carmaker to use recycled batteries for its vehicles and also recycle the batteries itself. No one in Europe currently recycles batteries in a closed-loop to extract the nickel, cobalt and lithium within.

Renault's The Future Is Neutral (TFIN) department, which launched in 2022, is now in talks with companies that can help it build its own plant for recycling batteries. The ultimate goal is to reduce the cost of EVs and reduce reliance on Chinese batteries and materials.

Next month, Renault will discontinue the production of new vehicles in its Flins factory in France and will transition into producing recycled vehicle parts and reconditioned cars.

As of now, nickel, cobalt and lithium account for about 70% of the cost of a new battery, which in turn are 40% of the whole vehicle.

Renault's plans are part of a broader European initiative to reduce its reliance on Chinese batteries and raw materials, so making a battery recycling plant in Europe makes sense. Also, Renault might benefit quite a bit from its TFIN business as the company is targeting sales of €2.3 billion just from this branch.

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