Raw materials and recycling for electric vehicles Markus Becker - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

1

Raw materials and recycling for electric vehicles

Markus Becker Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety of Germany Division for Environment and Transport, Electric Mobility

2

What can we do to support the electrification

• f transport from a resource perspective?

Can recycling help to secure material supply and lower environmental impacts?

3

Electrification is key to bring down emissions

• Avoid and shift transport are very

useful, also from an economic point of view and for quality of life in cities

• But: Remaining motorized transport is

likely to be of enormous volume

• When it comes to road transport,

electrification is of high preference:

• EV are about 3 times more efficient

than conventional power trains

• With a decarbonising electricity

generation, well-to-wheel emissions decrease drastically

> Climate Action Programm 2020 > Climate Protection Plan 2050

• f the Federal Government of Germany

4

Findings from supported recycling projects

• Recycling of battery and power electronics is feasible
• Lithium in particular can be recycled in primary quality
• Life cycle analysis shows that the developed recycling

procedures provide green house gas and energy savings

• Current prices (and legislation) do not require lithium

recycling (but rather cobalt)

5

Dialogue on resources for e-mobility

• German think tank invited government, industry and society stakeholders to

provide input into a broader resource analysis on e-mobility

• Research institute analysed different scenarios
• Main findings are:

(1) lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite and platinum as „usual suspects“ are abundant, even if a fast and global electric vehicle uptake is assumed (2) temporary scarcities and price increases cannot fully be excluded (3) extracting raw material for e-mobility entails environmental impacts such as it does if for other appliances (needless to say if we look at crude oil, too)

6

What can we do about?

The dialogue and study identified several recommendations: (a) foster R&D in order to

• enhance material efficiency
• advance recycling technologies
• identify material substitutes if needed

(b) think about an industrial alliance for sustainable supply and seek international collaboration for sustainable mining (c) set up a commodities radar together (d) adapt the EU battery directive (e) HANDLE WITH CARE

Picture credits: kurier.at, BMUB

7

Life cycle green house impacts of e-components

Calculation after BMUB, UBA, ifeu (2017) New vehicle 2017 New vehicle 2025

8

Thank you for your attention!

If you would like to read further: http://erneuerbar- mobil.de/projekte?projectsubjects=10&partner=All&project_status=All&combine= https://www.agora- verkehrswende.de/fileadmin/Projekte/2017/Nachhaltige_Rohstoffversorgung_Elekt romobilitaet/Agora_Verkehrswende_Synthesenpapier_WEB.pdf