The International Energy Agency reported that the global electric vehicle (EV) market grew 43% between 2019 and 2020, with total EV inventory reaching 10 million units. Recognizing that the supply of battery metals will become an increasingly important issue, Mercedes-Benz will set up a wholly-owned subsidiary, his Licular, in 2021.
Using innovative recycling techniques and techniques, the start-up’s high recovery separation process can extract up to 96% of cobalt, lithium and nickel from old EV batteries. Lithium-ion batteries (Li-ion or LIB), one of the most popular configurations, have an operational life of 10 to 20 years. As such, Licular expects an influx of recyclable materials by the early 2030s.
