Iveco Joins BASF's European BEV Battery Recycling Project

Truck and bus maker Iveco is the first European automaker to join BASF’s automotive battery recycling initiative to harvest vital ingredients from end-of-life battery packs.

The Italian automaker is partnering with the German chemicals group in recycling its battery-electric vehicles' lithium-ion batteries following BASF’s collaboration with recycling specialist Stena Recycling to accelerate the hoped-for circular automotive economy.

Reuters reports that the agreement aims to increase batteries' overall lifetime and reduce their overall environmental impact, the two companies say in a statement.

It also complies with the European Union’s Extended Producer Responsibility policy, which extends manufacturers' responsibility to the entire life cycle of the products they introduce on the market, including management of the post-consumer stage and end-of-life.

Iveco’s deal with BASF is intended to cover the whole recycling process for the lithium-ion batteries used by its battery-electric vans, buses and trucks, including their collection, packaging, transport and recycling in a number of European countries.

BASF will mechanically process the batteries into the “black mass” from which vital materials such as nickel, cobalt and lithium can be extracted and reused. It will then supply recycled metals to Europe's local battery industry.

Chief supply chain officer for Iveco, Angela Qu, says in a statement, “(BASF's) broad battery collection network and recycling capabilities in Europe will help us close the loop from end-of-life batteries to new ones.”