USAGeneral Motors has started delivering EVs whose battery cells contain cathode material made from old GM battery packs. The material comes from a pilot with recycler Cirba Solutions: 80 end-of-life GM batteries yielded more than 12 tonnes of new cathode active material, made with 100% recycled nickel, cobalt and manganese. GM announced the results on 22 September.
From old packs to new cells
Cirba Solutions recovered the metals from the old packs at its facility in Ohio and turned them into cathode material. Ultium Cells, GM’s battery joint venture with LG Energy Solution, used that material to build new cells. The cells went into battery packs assembled at GM’s Spring Hill, Tennessee, and Factory Zero, Detroit, plants, and from there into production vehicles.
GM says testing showed the recycled-material cells performed comparably to cells made from new raw materials, and that they meet its quality, safety and performance requirements.
Which vehicles have them
Seven models are shipping with the cells:
- Cadillac Lyriq, Lyriq-V, Vistiq and Escalade IQ and IQL (the Escalade IQL has its own page)
- Chevrolet Silverado EV Trail Boss
- GMC Sierra EV AT4
Still a pilot
Twelve tonnes is a small batch next to a vehicle programme, and GM describes this as a pilot. It expects to scale the closed loop as more EV batteries reach the end of their life, which is the constraint: the volume of old packs available to recycle is still small, because most EVs are young.
