New Mercedes-Benz Recycling Plant Achieves 96% Material Recovery Rate

Mercedes-Benz announced today the opening of a new battery recycling plant in Kuppenheim, southern Germany, marking a major step toward creating a genuine circular economy. The plant achieves a 96% recovery rate and recovers key materials such as lithium, nickel, and cobalt, making them suitable for use in new batteries for future electric vehicles.

Mercedes-Benz has invested “tens of millions of euros” in constructing the new plant, which is also receiving funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. The funding is part of a scientific research project with three German universities, exploring the entire process chain for recycling, including logistics and reintegration concepts.

The new plant has an annual capacity of 2,500 tonnes, with the recovered materials feeding into the production of more than 50,000 battery modules. This facility is the first battery recycling plant in Europe with an integrated mechanical-hydrometallurgical process, covering all key recycling steps from shredding battery modules to drying and processing active battery materials. The mechanical process sorts and separates plastics, copper, aluminum, and iron through a complex, multi-stage process, while the downstream hydrometallurgical process focuses on the “black mass”—the active materials that make up the battery cell electrodes.

Battery metals such as cobalt, nickel, and lithium are extracted individually in a multi-stage mechanical process at the new plant, ensuring the materials remain of battery quality for use in new battery cells.

Jörg Burzer, Member of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, responsible for Production, Quality & Supply Chain Management, stated: “The innovative technology enables us to recover valuable raw materials from the battery with the highest possible degree of purity. This turns today’s batteries into tomorrow’s sustainable mine for raw materials. The new battery recycling plant strengthens the role of the Mercedes-Benz production network with vehicle and drivetrain plants in Europe.”

Mercedes-Benz’s Ambition 2039 strategy includes a goal to make its fleet of new passenger cars net carbon-neutral over the entire vehicle lifecycle by 2039. As part of this strategy, Mercedes-Benz aims to increase the share of recycled materials in its new vehicle fleet to an average of 40%.

While most battery recycling facilities typically utilize pyrometallurgy, the new facility’s hydrometallurgical process is less energy-intensive and produces less material waste, with low process temperatures of up to 80 degrees Celsius. The plant operates in a net carbon-neutral manner, is supplied with 100% green electricity, and features a photovoltaic system with a peak output of more than 350 kW.

Ola Källenius, Chairman of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, said: “Mercedes-Benz has set itself the goal of building the most desirable cars in a sustainable way. As a pioneer in automotive engineering, Europe’s first integrated mechanical-hydrometallurgical battery recycling factory marks a key milestone towards enhancing raw-material sustainability. Together with our partners from industry and science, we are sending a strong signal of innovative strength for sustainable electric mobility and value creation in Germany and Europe.”12:20 PM