One of the issues with electric vehicle technology has been what to with the batteries when they have reached the end of their life.The BMW Group, Northvolt and Umicore have formed a joint technology consortium in order to work closely together on the continued development of a complete and sustainable value chain for battery cells for electrified vehicles in Europe.
Sales of BMW electric vehicles continue to grow; September deliveries of BMW i, BMW iPerformance and MINI Electric vehicles totalled 14,559 units worldwide, an increase of 35.0% on the same month last year and the highest monthly total ever for BMW Group electrified. Sales in the year to date total 97,543 (+42.0%), once again confirming the BMW Group’s position as a leading global provider of premium electrified mobility. Since the launch of the pioneering BMW i3 in 2013, a total of more than 313,000 BMW Group electrified vehicles have now been delivered to customers.
The BMW i3
In view of the growing numbers of electrified vehicles, establishing a broad basis for procuring battery cells is becoming a matter of greater strategic significance for manufacturers.
Development.
In order to accelerate the development of battery cells and make further progress in terms of cell chemistry and cell design, the BMW Group’s new battery cell centre of excellence will be inaugurated in summer 2019. Besides battery cell development, other key skills will be pooled there too, from the production of battery cell prototypes to build-to-print expertise. This is important for the BMW Group as a way of endowing potential suppliers for cell production with the necessary skills to meet its own requirements. The BMW Group is already investing heavily in the entire value chain today and, by so doing, is blazing a trail when it comes to sustainability. Consequently, ensuring that raw materials come from environmentally and socially responsible sources, obliging cell suppliers to reduce their carbon footprint, using recycled materials, and creating battery concepts that can be serviced and easily recycled are already high priorities for the BMW Group, which intends to continue strengthening its capabilities and expanding its activities in this area.
Production.
“The sustainability approach of Northvolt makes it a highly appealing company for us, that was furthermore very receptive to our ideas,” remarked Klaus Fröhlich, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, responsible for Development.
For this reason, the BMW Group and Northvolt have been collaborating for some time now as part of a strategic technology project. The collaboration will leverage the capabilities of Northvolt Labs, a scale-up line and research facility which will be used to test and industrialize battery cells before large-scale production, with the aim of developing cutting-edge green battery cells. The collaboration has been supported by BMW Group through an investment to enable the initial phase of the partnership. Sustainability is at the core of Northvolt’s business and its ambition is to become one of the first fully circular industrial companies. This is why all the electrical power for its future production of battery cells originates from renewable resources. Another important consideration for Northvolt is local and responsible sourcing of the raw materials needed. Sustainability has also been one of the BMW Group’s central strategic targets for many years, meaning that the two companies operate based on a similar ethic.
”BMW and Northvolt have a shared commitment to reduce CO2 emissions from transportation. As batteries are becoming a key strategic question for car manufacturers, this partnership does not only mark a key milestone for Northvolt, it also highlights the importance of sustainable battery cells in the coming wave of electrification”, said Peter Carlsson, Co-Founder and CEO, Northvolt.
Materials development and recycling.
Umicore is the partner responsible for active anode and cathode materials development and recycling in the technology alliance. This collaboration will enable innovative and highly efficient production technologies to be applied to the production of active materials based on recycled metals. In addition, this project covers smart battery pack disassembly, screening for reutilisation of the battery cells and feeding the recycled resources back into active material production. As electric mobility continues to expand, growing needs will not be limited to sustainable extraction of raw materials – recovering materials that have already been used will also become increasingly important in easing the burden on raw material production.
“It is rewarding to see that Umicore’s product technologies and recycling services are key enablers for this technology alliance with BMW and Northvolt. By jointly demonstrating a closed loop for high performance, green and EU-based batteries, we are underlining the future potential and importance of a European supply chain for the success of car electrification in the region”, said Marc Grynberg, CEO of Umicore.
The collaboration.
With this particular technology project, the BMW Group, Northvolt and Umicore are laying the basis for a sustainable value chain for automotive battery cells in Europe, from development and production right through to recycling.
In Europe, the BMW Group has already been manufacturing modules with supplied battery cells before using these modules to build complete batteries for plug-in hybrids and battery-powered electric vehicles. With its battery cell production, Northvolt provides the final element needed for purely European production of complete batteries for electric mobility applications in future, resulting in a substantial reduction in carbon emissions at the same time.
The BMW Group is already demonstrating now how batteries can be used as energy storage devices in both domestic and industrial applications once the battery cells reach the end of their vehicle life cycle.
Umicore has recently announced it will soon start building a cathode material manufacturing facility in Europe and already runs a recycling plant for lithium-ion batteries in Europe. Umicore is advancing the technology for recycling battery cells and returning the recycled resources to the material production cycle, thereby making a vital contribution to the future of sustainable mobility.
Photographs by BMW AG.