Mercedes-Benz opened a new battery recycling plant in Kuppenheim, southern Germany — making it the first car manufacturer worldwide to close the battery recycling loop with its own in-house facility. The recycling plant enables the company to recycle valuable materials from electric vehicle batteries, including aluminum, copper, iron, and other materials.
“Mercedes-Benz has set itself the goal of building the most desirable cars in a sustainable way,” said Ola Källenius, chairman of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG. “As a pioneer in automotive engineering, Europe’s first integrated mechanical-hydrometallurgical battery recycling factory marks a key milestone towards enhancing raw-materials 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.”
Mercedes-Benz’s technology partner for the battery recycling factory is Primobius, a joint venture between German plant and mechanical engineering company SMS group and Australian process technology developer Neometals. The plant is receiving funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action as part of a scientific research project with three German universities. The project looks at the entire process chain for recycling, including logistics and reintegration concepts. The partners are thus making an important contribution to future scaling of the battery recycling industry in Germany.
The new battery recycling plant in Kuppenheim has an annual capacity of 2,500 tonnes. The plant creates a genuine circular economy, covering all steps of the battery recycling process — from shredding battery modules to drying and processing active battery materials. The mechanical process sorts and separates aluminum, plastics, copper, and iron in a complex, multi-stage process.
This is followed by mechanical-hydrometallurgical recycling, which is dedicated to the so-called black mass (the active materials that make up the electrodes of the battery cells). Valuable materials, such as cobalt, nickel, and lithium, are extracted individually in a multi-stage chemical process, with a recovery rate of more than 96%. These materials are of battery quality and therefore suitable for use in the production of new battery cells, supporting the production of more than 50,000 battery modules for new all-electric Mercedes-Benz models.
Unlike the pyrometallurgy process established in Europe today, the hydrometallurgical process operates at low process temperatures of up to 80°C, making it less intensive in terms of energy consumption and material waste. In addition, like all Mercedes-Benz production plants, the Kuppenheim recycling plant operates in a net carbon-neutral manner. The roof of the 6,800 sq m building is equipped with a photovoltaic system with a peak output of more than 350 kW, and the plant is supplied with 100% green electricity.
“The future of the automobile is electric, and batteries are an essential component of this,” said Olaf Scholz, federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. “To produce batteries in a resource-conserving and sustainable way, recycling is also key. The circular economy is a growth engine and, at the same time, an essential building block for achieving our climate targets! I congratulate Mercedes-Benz for its courage and foresight shown by this investment in Kuppenheim. Germany remains a cutting-edge market for new and innovative technologies.”
Holistic Approach to the Battery Value Chain
Mercedes-Benz noted that it takes a holistic approach to the circularity of battery systems and considers three core topics: circular design, value retention, and closing the material loop. With its Design for Circularity approach, the company aims to take the entire battery technology value chain into account from the outset.
At the Mercedes-Benz eCampus in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim, which opened in 2024, circular thinking flows into the development of new battery cells. Battery production for electric Mercedes-Benz vehicles is net carbon-neutral in battery factories on three continents. Local battery production is a key factor for the success of the Mercedes-Benz sustainable business strategy.
In line with circular thinking and to conserve resources, the company offers reconditioned batteries as spare parts for all its electric vehicles. In addition, its Mercedes-Benz Energy subsidiary has established a successful business model with large-scale stationary storage applications. Batteries that are no longer suitable for vehicle use can enjoy a second life as part of an energy storage system.
“We are systematically deepening our expertise in the battery value chain,” said Jörg Burzer, member of the board of management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, responsible for Production, Quality & Supply Chain Management. “Following the opening of the Mercedes-Benz eCampus for development of new battery cell chemistries in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim, we are now sustainably closing the raw materials loop in Kuppenheim. 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.”