Photo: BMW
With one electric model already on the road and several others on their way, German manufacturer BMW is looking to find more uses for the batteries it will be deploying in its cars.
Following in the footsteps of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, who already has several advanced projects involving car batteries, BMW said on Monday it partnered with two other companies for “continued development of a complete and sustainable value chain for battery cells” in Europe.
The two companies are Northvolt, a Swedish company that is in the business of manufacturing lithium-ion batteries for cars, and Umicore, a recycling group based in Belgium.
Northvolt is currently in the process of erecting Europe’s largest car battery plant, in Sweden, and when it is ready, the facility will roll out the packs that will power the Bavarians’ electric cars.
BMW will use these batteries in their so-called first-life. After their role in the automobile ends, these batteries will be used as stationary energy storage devices – the second life. Once the batteries’ life cycle ends, Umicore will pick them up and recycle them, feeding some of the materials to Northvolt to make some more.
This entire life cycle of the batteries will form what BMW calls a closed life cycle loop.
To help these plans come to be in the first years of the following decade, the three companies announced they’ve formed a joint technology consortium. This entity will be in charge, among other things, with everything from design, testing and large-scale production of electric car batteries.
“The sustainability approach of Northvolt makes it a highly appealing company for us, that was furthermore very receptive to our ideas,” said in a statement Klaus Fröhlich, BMW’s head of development.
You can have a look at the scope of the collaboration between the three in the document attached below.
The two companies are Northvolt, a Swedish company that is in the business of manufacturing lithium-ion batteries for cars, and Umicore, a recycling group based in Belgium.
Northvolt is currently in the process of erecting Europe’s largest car battery plant, in Sweden, and when it is ready, the facility will roll out the packs that will power the Bavarians’ electric cars.
BMW will use these batteries in their so-called first-life. After their role in the automobile ends, these batteries will be used as stationary energy storage devices – the second life. Once the batteries’ life cycle ends, Umicore will pick them up and recycle them, feeding some of the materials to Northvolt to make some more.
This entire life cycle of the batteries will form what BMW calls a closed life cycle loop.
To help these plans come to be in the first years of the following decade, the three companies announced they’ve formed a joint technology consortium. This entity will be in charge, among other things, with everything from design, testing and large-scale production of electric car batteries.
“The sustainability approach of Northvolt makes it a highly appealing company for us, that was furthermore very receptive to our ideas,” said in a statement Klaus Fröhlich, BMW’s head of development.
You can have a look at the scope of the collaboration between the three in the document attached below.
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