Rhenus Automotive and TSR Automotive to set up EV battery reuse and recycling center in Germany

Rhenus Automotive and TSR Automotive GmbH, two companies in the Rethmann Group, which also include the recycling company Remondis – have established the joint company The Battery Lifecycle Company GmbH (BLC). BLC aims to provide reuse and recycling servicees for batteries from the automotive industry. The company will provide deep discharging, disassembly as well as repair and refurbishment of batteries, including assessment for reuse in other applications (repurposing) as well as for reuse in vehicles after remanufacturing.

Operations will start from TSR Automotive's site in Rheda-Wiedenbrück where TSR already has been dismantling battery packs since 2021. An additional dismantling line is planned at another TSR site in Magdeburg, 2 hours west of Berlin, where a fully automated system will both test the batteries and if needed, disassemble and discharge them. The system which likely will be the first in Europe when it is commissioned by the end of 2023, has been developed by Bosch Rexroth. It will have the capability to move packs with a speed of 18 meters per second and it will take less than 15 minutes to automatically discharge eight lithium-ion batteries from electric cars.

Batteries which require recycling will by BLC be sold to pre-processors. The company is also to cooperate with RETRON GmbH, a wholly-owned subsidiary of REMONDIS specialised in logistics for lithium-ion batteries, which is planning to set up a pre-processing line for black mass production. REMONDIS has for several years been involved in battery sorting and recycling as well as reuse, through several subisidiaries.

BLC might not need to send the cells very far from its own facility. Canadian recycler Li-Cycle is currently setting up a 30,000 tpa pre-processing facility in Magdeburg which will start to operate in 2023.

Read more about the new company here.

Read more about Bosch's new system here.