The Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) believes in the Swiss start-up Librec (for “lithium battery recycling”). In any case, the Bafu has already transferred 400,000 francs start-up capital to the young company. Well-known companies from the Swiss automotive industry as well as Empa, the Auto-Recycling Schweiz foundation, Swiss e-Mobility and the Bern University of Applied Sciences think highly of the company’s project and support it. With the traditional battery recycler Batrec and Librec, the importers’ association Auto-Schweiz is even thinking of a national industry solution for the recycling of electric car batteries. “That could work in a similar way to the disposal of electronic equipment,” says Auto-Schweiz spokesman Christoph Wolnik.
The idea of Librec: From 2024, the start-up, which was founded in 2021, wants to recycle batteries from electric cars in a new recycling facility in the canton of Solothurn, thereby recovering at least 90 percent of the raw materials. In the first year, around 300 tons of batteries from around 1000 e-cars are to be recycled. Librec managing director Jodok Reinhardt is hoping for more than 3,000 tons per year in ten years, as he revealed to “NZZ am Sonntag”. And compared to Blick, he does not rule out that a second plant location will have to be considered in the longer term (“in 10 or 20 years”) and if e-mobility continues to increase. Librec wants to finance the disposal system through a contribution towards the purchase of an electrified vehicle (e.g. one franc per kilo of battery, i.e. around 200 to 600 francs depending on the electric car) and by selling the raw materials.
Start of construction in 2022, ready for operation in 2024
Things are happening in Switzerland when it comes to battery recycling – see the approach taken by the electric vehicle manufacturer Kyburz with its own system. “The big advantage of battery recycling in Switzerland is that there would be massively fewer transports,” says Reinhardt to Blick. Today, for example, the US supplier Tesla sends all models that have been decommissioned in Switzerland to the Netherlands for disposal. Not very environmentally friendly and expensive because the e-cars and their batteries are transported in a protected manner due to the risk of fire.
In the planned facility on 10,000 to 20,000 square meters in the Oensingen SO area (start of construction 2022), either the e-cars or the previously removed batteries will be delivered. Then the batteries are the first to be completely discharged. With this residual energy alone, Librec managing director Reinhardt wants to cover more than a quarter of the electricity requirements of his plant. It is then checked whether the batteries to be disposed of are still suitable for second-life use – if not, the batteries are shredded and recycled.
Over 90 percent recovered
“Today batteries are melted down or landed in landfills,” says Reinhardt. So not very environmentally friendly. The Librec recycling process, which was developed in Germany and is successfully used there, recovers 90 percent of the materials used in the batteries. Reinhardt is convinced that Librec plans to use additional processes to increase the share, for example by recovering graphite. And so his Swiss start-up should achieve the world’s highest recycling rate for batteries in e-cars.