Photo: Volkswagen
According to John Lennon, “life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” In a recent article, we warned that life might catch off guard automakers that plan to recycle all their battery packs.
Volkswagen was an example with what it calls the “closed-loop approach.” The company talked about it in many occasions, including the New Auto Strategy presentation. We talked to the German automaker, and it said it is aware that people will not give them their old battery packs just out of convenience. In other words, the carmaker knows it has to offer more than that.
Volkswagen said that it already receives old battery packs “free of charge” from customers. The issue is that all battery packs it is currently collecting are still covered by the eight-year warranty that automakers usually offer. The German carmaker is no exception. Its first fully electric car, the e-Golf, was released in 2014, so its warranty ends only in 2022.
There will be a point when these customers will have to buy a new battery pack. When that happens, they will have the option to give the old one to Volkswagen or keep it and use it for something else. They may sell it for companies that recycle them, for example.
The German carmaker said that “once returning volumes and the recycling market grow,” it will “offer attractive incentives for customers” to return their batteries. Volkswagen did not disclose which incentives it is planning, possibly because they will be a strategic advantage when the time comes.
What Volkswagen was willing to say is that “customers can benefit from the value of the battery and be sure that the company will sustainably recycle the old battery.” The argument of social responsibility may resonate well with a large share of the buyers. However, it will be the certainty of a fair deal that will allow the company to have the influx of battery packs that it expects to receive.
Volkswagen was an example with what it calls the “closed-loop approach.” The company talked about it in many occasions, including the New Auto Strategy presentation. We talked to the German automaker, and it said it is aware that people will not give them their old battery packs just out of convenience. In other words, the carmaker knows it has to offer more than that.
Volkswagen said that it already receives old battery packs “free of charge” from customers. The issue is that all battery packs it is currently collecting are still covered by the eight-year warranty that automakers usually offer. The German carmaker is no exception. Its first fully electric car, the e-Golf, was released in 2014, so its warranty ends only in 2022.
There will be a point when these customers will have to buy a new battery pack. When that happens, they will have the option to give the old one to Volkswagen or keep it and use it for something else. They may sell it for companies that recycle them, for example.
The German carmaker said that “once returning volumes and the recycling market grow,” it will “offer attractive incentives for customers” to return their batteries. Volkswagen did not disclose which incentives it is planning, possibly because they will be a strategic advantage when the time comes.
What Volkswagen was willing to say is that “customers can benefit from the value of the battery and be sure that the company will sustainably recycle the old battery.” The argument of social responsibility may resonate well with a large share of the buyers. However, it will be the certainty of a fair deal that will allow the company to have the influx of battery packs that it expects to receive.
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