Panasonic Holdings intends to take used EV batteries to make new ones by recycling nickel, cobalt, and lithium materials. The company also aims to ensure the recycled batteries are of equal cost and performance to new batteries by 2028.

This move by Panasonic supports Japan’s intention to begin a domestic battery recycling system by 2030.

“We can secure resources that are in danger of depletion and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from the resource extraction stage to production,” said Panasonic Energy Chief Technology Officer Shoichiro Watanabe.

Partnering with U.S.-based startup Redwood Materials, Subsidiary Panasonic Energy will work to mine high-purity nickel from old batteries, which make up approximately 90% of the cathode material in Panasonic’s electric vehicle batteries.

In a U.S. Redwood factory in Nevada, the partner is already gathering resources from defective batteries and scraps supplied at a Panasonic Energy plant in the state, but in the future, both companies will endeavour to recuperate high-purity nickel from cast-off batteries for Panasonic Energy to use.

Image courtesy of Nikkei Asia

“Used batteries contain a higher concentration of resources than ore and require less energy to smelt. Depending on resource prices, recycled batteries can be cheaper,” Watanabe said.

According to Watanabe, Panasonic wishes to recycle batteries at an “ambitious scale”, and they are working towards a deadline of 2028.

Beyond Panasonic, reusing and mining battery materials is trending with companies like Chinese recycling business GEM partnered with Mercedes-Benz’s Chinese subsidiary and world EV battery leader Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL) to recycle batteries.

“Battery manufacturers and recycling companies around the world are racing to develop technology to cheaply extract critical minerals from used batteries,” said professor at Nagoya University Noboru Sato.

According to Sato, if a business could commit to using recycled critical minerals, it could be 30% cheaper than new minerals, not to mention a “big step toward winning in the EV battery market.”

According to Nikkei Asia, the European Union intends to necessitate businesses to have something called a “battery passport” system in 2026.

The new passport system would record intelligence regarding the origin of a battery’s material, the % which was recycled, and the amount of CO2 emitted in production. In India and the U.S., the countries are also contemplating the integration of related measures.

According to Fortune Business Insights, the international lithium-ion battery recycling market, with EV batteries, is expected to quadruple from $3.22 billion in 2022 to $14.89 billion by 2030 or go even higher.