ANN ARBOR, Mich. (April 30, 2024) – Toyota Motor North America (‘Toyota’) declares that it has entered a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory to analyze the event of a direct recycling course of for lithium-ion batteries, that are prevalent in new electrical automobiles. The focus of the analysis will likely be on cathode chemistries fabricated from nickel, manganese, and cobalt.

“Having Argonne utilize our commercial battery products will help us evaluate the direct recycling process at an industrial scale, in addition to other battery recycling technologies to maintain a diverse portfolio of recycling options for a diverse array of battery platforms and chemistries,” says Nik Singh, Senior Scientist within the Toyota Research Institute of North America (TRINA)’s Materials Research Department. “Toyota is in a unique position to bridge aspects of fundamental research with product evaluation, development and commercialization, to help its U.S. battery manufacturing achieve better circularity and supply chain security.”

For the undertaking, Toyota will present Argonne with each end-of-life and new Toyota batteries. Argonne will adapt and check its patent-pending direct recycling course of with the batteries. Further, TRINA, Toyota’s in-house entity for exploring next-generation applied sciences, will lend its experience to validate this “proof-of-concept” examine.

“Based on preliminary projections, direct recycling can potentially offer significant cost and carbon footprint savings,” says Sarah Kennedy, Operations Manager of Toyota’s Battery Lifecycle Solutions Business Development group. “Toyota’s Battery Lifecycle Solutions entity will help identify the appropriate pathway for the potential future commercialization of this technology, pending the outcome of the CRADA, as the project is projected to deliver a net improvement in battery materials manufacturing costs, waste and carbon footprint.”

The collaborative undertaking with Argonne is a part of Toyota’s pursuit of designing a closed-loop battery ecosystem aimed toward maximizing sustainability. In 2015, Toyota introduced the Environmental Challenge 2050, a set of objectives to realize carbon neutrality throughout the automobile lifecycle by 2050. For electrified automobiles, this consists of battery recycling, whether or not after first use or after being repurposed or refurbished, to make sure that uncooked supplies are extracted and put again into the manufacturing course of.

Additional details about the undertaking and Argonne’s analysis at its ReCell Center might be discovered here.