This type of EV tech will be crucial: Battery recycling gaining traction in Europe, including from BMW, Volkswagen and Renault as numbers of end-of-life batteries steeply increase

Electric vehicle battery recycling is becoming more important.

Battery recycling will take on an increasingly important role in electric vehicle production and sustainability as more EVs hit the roads.

EV batteries degrade over time, meaning at a given point they will not be capable of holding enough charge and be ineffective for their purpose.

The disposal of these batteries leads to issues of toxic waste, coupled with the fact that these batteries may be suitable for other uses, and their internal components can be valuable.

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Battery recycling initiatives have started to gather some steam, especially in Europe, with the likes of BMW, Volkswagen and Renault all exploring recycling initiatives.

In addition to European improvements, Australia has also been getting on the front foot with battery recycling.

In late 2025 for example, Nissan announced an initiative to use nine recycled batteries from Leaf hatchbacks to power elements of its parts factory in Victoria.

A report in Auto News claims global revenues from battery recycling projects will grow to around $100 billion annually by 2040, with revenues in 2025 amounting to $3.5 billion.

2014 Nissan Leaf

This is being driven by increasingly stringent European Union regulations for recycling mandates.

Under the EU Battery Regulation, there are stricter year-on-year recycling targets, and in 2030, 70 per cent of lithium-based batteries must be recycled.

Further, European materials legislation requires at least 25 per cent of raw materials to come from EU recycling.

Nissan will use recycled Leaf batteries to power its parts factory in Victoria.

One of the key challenges with battery recycling is the safe disassembly of the batteries, due to the housing of hazardous materials, including toxic chemicals and flammable substances.

Automated processes have emerged as a way to safely disassemble batteries, without risk to humans.

Luxembourg based robotics company R3 has been collaborating with major manufacturers such as Hyundai and Jaguar to disassemble batteries.

It is expected R3 will deploy dismantling lines in the United States later this year.

This type of recycling enables the recovery of key raw materials which otherwise require extensive resources to acquire, such as cobalt as used in the high-density and high-output nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) battery tech.

However, some questions remain around the viability of recycling the increasingly popular lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, which use less difficult-to-acquire materials.