Due to the recent growth of the lithium-ion market accompanied by the high demand for electric vehicles, the amount of end-of-life lithium-ion batteries will increase significantly in the coming years.
Therefore, it is important and essential to consider the need to recycle the raw materials of these batteries.
Most electric vehicles are equipped with lithium-ion batteries. When these batteries lose their storage capacity after about ten years of use, they need to be replaced. It is considered that below 80% of their initial storage capacity, batteries are no longer good enough to be used in an electric car. However, they continue to offer interesting storage capacities and can therefore continue to be used for other purposes such as stationary storage depending on their technical and economic viability and limiting the environmental impact: this is known as second life.
After this second life, a large part of the cell can be recycled with the aim of recovering valuable metals such as aluminium, copper or iron which are key elements in the recycling field. At this stage, the various materials will be reused to manufacture other products.
There are two French factories specialising in lithium-ion recycling: SNAM (Société Nouvelle d'Affinage des Métaux) and Euro Dieuze (Véolia).
Currently, the recycling rate for SNAM is 70% for lithium-ion but this will be revised to 80% in the near future.
The European directive 2006/66/EC, which came into force on 26 September 2006, now requires operators to have a recycling rate (i.e. the percentage of the total mass of a waste product) of at least 50% for technologies involving lithium-ion (LFP, NMC, etc.). The primary objective of this Directive is to limit the negative impact of batteries and accumulators and their waste on the environment, thus contributing to the protection, preservation and improvement of the quality of the environment.
A review of this measure will be carried out during 2021/2022 to ensure that all countries have the same legislation to apply and that everyone's responsibilities for their waste are clearly identified.
SIG Energy Technology has integrated social, environmental and economic concerns into its strategy, the company has based its R&D in France and its modules are designed in its own design office.
The modules developed by SIG Energy Technology have been designed to be easily dismantled in order to optimise recycling, according to the principle of eco-design. They are made of recycled plastics from waste electrical and electronic equipment.
By using renewable resources as much as possible, promoting reuse, repair and recycling, SIG Energy Technology is fully committed to social, societal and environmental responsibility.
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