Trumpf laser recycles electric vehicle batteries in series

Battery recycling Trumpf laser recycles electric vehicle batteries in series

2024-06-23 Source: Trumpf | Translated by AI 2 min Reading Time

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Car manufacturers and battery manufacturers can now recycle used or faulty batteries from electric cars on an industrial scale using a Trumpf laser system for the first time.

Trumpf has now developed a laser processing method that can solve many problems in the recycling of old batteries from electric mobility, as it says. Last but not least, the EU demands a maximum of recycling for batteries. Read on ...(Image: Trumpf) — Trumpf has now developed a laser processing method that can solve many problems in the recycling of old batteries from electric mobility, as it says. Last but not least, the EU demands a maximum of recycling for batteries. Read on ...
(Image: Trumpf)

Trumpf is now developing laser systems that can safely cut open used batteries and remove the valuable raw materials from the battery foil. Because the recycling of batteries is ecologically sensible and with laser technology now also economically feasible. Trumpf is also known to have extensive expertise in laser welding and cutting for the production of E-car batteries. For years, the Ditzinger have therefore also been working with all leading car and battery manufacturers. This has resulted in the new laser process, which were presented for the first time in June at the Battery Show Europe 2024, the leading trade fair for battery technology, in Stuttgart, Germany..

Battery recycling is a soon-to-be booming market

Without valuable raw materials like cobalt, lithium or nickel, there are currently no batteries for electric cars. However, the extraction of these sometimes rare raw materials is complex and not always sustainable. Manufacturers would also have to accept long and uncertain supply chains. In addition, the European Union prescribes a recycling rate for batteries of up to 90 percent. Therefore, the industry needs to carry out battery recycling on a large scale. But the market for laser processes for recycling batteries, which is emerging, is huge, as experts from Fraunhofer-IPA have analyzed. Europe alone will need to recycle around 570,000 tonnes of battery material annually from 2030.

Cobalt and nickel returned to the cycle via laser

And the electrodes for new battery cells are foil strips coated with valuable materials like cobalt and nickel. In a future recycling plant, laser processes could remove this ultra-thin layer from the foil. The manufacturers can collect the precious dust and process it for new coatings, as Trumpf explains. So far, however, kilometers of coated foils end up as waste in the trash. But even for battery packs, laser technology can be used in recycling in the future. Only laser technology enables efficient and automated dismantling, for example to remove covers from batteries or to cut off cables. Afterward, the raw materials can be sorted and still usable battery cells can be isolated directly and further used. And the dismantling of electric car batteries has so far been pure manual work, which is time-consuming, slow and partly dangerous for the workers. This could soon be over.

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Date: 08.12.2025

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