While electric vehicle sales around the world are climbing unabated, the automotive industry is preparing to face a huge crisis that will erupt in the very near future: What will happen to the millions of batteries that have reached the end of their useful life?According to the information of the International Energy Agency (IEA), it is claimed that 120 GWh of batteries will be removed from vehicles by 2030. This situation is in the global market electric vehicle battery recyclingIt shows how critical the processes will clearly become.

The latest attack from Canada proved how this crisis can turn into a huge economic episode. Clean technology company Moment Energy, which became operational only 6 weeks after the announcement of the project and is considered the “world’s largest” Megafactory 1commissioned the facility.

This giant facility, based in Surrey, collects batteries with insufficient range capacity for electric cars and produces them on a commercial scale for use in hospitals, factories and data centres. fixed power storage systems (BESS)It transforms. The facility, which has official partnerships with giants such as Mercedes-Benz and Nissan, aims to reach an annual storage capacity of 1 GWh by 2030.

So, while this transformation is taking place on a global scale, what is the situation in Türkiye and Europe? Let’s discuss who evaluates retired batteries and how, from an engineer’s perspective.

Why “Second Life” and Not Direct Recycling?

One of the most basic elements of environmental engineering is the “Waste Hierarchy”. According to this hierarchy, using a product as is, if possible, before directly melting it and recycling it always provides a lower carbon footprint. The success of the facility in Canada is based precisely on this engineering ideology.

When I examine the process as an environmental engineer, I can clearly see that this situation is not only a commercial crisis, but also the biggest circular economy test of the century in terms of solid waste management, hazardous waste disposal and sustainability principles. The latest breakthrough from Canada proved how this crisis can turn into a huge economic sector and a carbon neutral profit with a true vision.

Although a battery whose capacity drops to 70-80% in electric vehicles is considered “waste” for the vehicle, it is still a great source for storing static power in a fixed facility. Instead of putting batteries directly into chemical processes and melting them, giving them a second life in this way; It postpones the destructive mining activities carried out to extract valuable raw materials such as lithium, nickel and cobalt.

In other words, Canada is creating one of the most successful examples of industrial ecology by transforming the product life cycle approach of environmental engineering from “cradle to grave” to “cradle to cradle” with the advanced Battery Management Systems (BMS) and functional safety certification processes it has developed. Of course, this process will be the last in the future. electric vehicle battery recyclingIt also greatly eases the burden of operations.

How Does the Process Work in Europe? Strict Rules and the “Battery Passport”

The European Union (EU) is the region with the strictest legal regulations in the world regarding the conversion of electric vehicle batteries. Under the EU’s New Battery Directive, manufacturers are given end-to-end responsibility, from collection to recycling of batteries. These rules are in the region electric vehicle battery recyclingIt takes its standards to a whole new level.

• Cell Level Recycling: In Europe, chemical giants such as BASF put end-of-life batteries through direct chemical and physical processes and hydrometallurgical processes. Aim; To separate lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese with over 90% efficiency and feed them back into zero battery production as “critical raw materials”.

• Digital Battery Passport:Every battery entering the European market has a digital ID. Everything from the carbon footprint to the raw material content of the batteries is recorded. Rather than seeing the battery as direct garbage or waste, European manufacturers position it as a strategic mineral reserve.

What is the situation in Türkiye? Local Initiatives and Giant Project Stock

While Turkey made a strong entry into the electric vehicle market with Togg, it also started to build the battery ecosystem simultaneously. In our country, there is a need for both batteries that have expired or are in excess production. “Second Life”both storage analyzes and industrial scale electric vehicle battery recyclingInvestments have accelerated.

In Türkiye, with the aim of contributing to the economy instead of becoming a burden on the environment after the electric vehicle batteries have completed their life, second life (reuse)as well as integrated recyclingVery concrete steps are being taken in these areas. This process is basically carried out with two main strategies:

1. Second Life Applications (Reuse)

Although the batteries, whose performance decreases in electric vehicles, are insufficient for the vehicles, they can still operate with high efficiency in fixed power storage areas.

• Network Support:Batteries from vehicles are brought together and converted into high-capacity auxiliary power storage systems. These systems lighten the load on the main electricity grid by feeding electric vehicle charging units.

• Industrial Power Supplies:Thanks to the developed domestic smart battery management systems (BMS), old batteries are turned into uninterruptible power supply (UPS) for factories and production facilities. Thus, batteries become a segment of the circular economy.

2. Integrated Battery Recycling

Lithium-ion batteries that have completely completed their useful life are reduced to raw material level in high-tech facilities.

• Recovery of Precious Metals:Waste batteries collected from home and abroad are subjected to mechanical and chemical processes to separate critical elements such as nickel, cobalt and lithium.

• Industrial Cycle:These recovered mines; It is returned as domestic raw material to strategic departments such as chemistry, ceramics and battery production.

With the aim of making their production processes completely carbon-neutral, local players in the industry are both establishing local battery collection networks and conducting R&D studies on registered, environmentally friendly direct recycling routes.

Our Engineering Advantage: Huge Battery Storage Stock of 33 GW

One of Türkiye’s biggest advantages in this field has been shaped by the legislation introduced by EMRA. In Türkiye, it is mandatory to install batteries at least as much as the power of the power plant in new wind and solar power plants with storage.

With this breakthrough, Türkiye, in just a few years Approved battery project stock of 33 GWreached. This capacity is more than twice that of EU giants such as Germany and Italy, which have a total of around 12-13 GW in operation and project stages.

This huge grid storage requirement means a huge future “second life” market for our end-of-life vehicle batteries, such as Megafactory 1 in Canada.

From Waste Management to Energy Base: An Engineering Portrait of the Future

The global battery wars are being won by agile management of systems rather than chemical separation of lithium. The success of the speedster in Canada proves that ‘speed’ is also an environmental asset in engineering. Türkiye, on the other hand, has one of the largest playgrounds in the world for integrating these batteries into the grid, with its 33 GW project stock.

For us, the problem is not just about disassembling and melting the battery; With the right BMS (Battery Management System) design, we can insure the batteries coming from the automotive network. This will both reduce our mineral dependency and provide the most sustainable contribution to our power independence.

The global battery wars are being won by agile management of systems rather than chemical separation of lithium. The success of the fast team in Canada proved that ‘speed’ is also an environmental asset in engineering. Türkiye, on the other hand, has one of the largest playgrounds in the world for integrating these batteries into the grid, with its 33 GW project stock.

For us, the problem is not just about disassembling and melting the battery; With the right BMS (Battery Management System) design, we can insure our grid with batteries coming from the automotive industry. This will both reduce our mineral dependency and provide the most sustainable contribution to our power independence.