Lithium battery recycling

A battery is full of valuable raw materials that can go back into the production cycle, provided it is handled properly. Take a 400 kg battery with a capacity of 50 kWh: it contains roughly 6 kg of lithium, 10 kg of manganese, 11 kg of cobalt, 32 kg of nickel and 100 kg of graphite. Recovering those materials through recycling is technically complex. It is also necessary, both to keep the production of lithium batteries going and to reduce our ecological footprint.

The market for e-bikes keeps growing, and the number of e-bike batteries grows with it. Recycling those batteries reduces their impact on the environment. KWS Seuren gives e-bike batteries a second life. Cells that are still in good condition are reused in other applications, and the remaining cells are recycled. That extends the useful life of these batteries considerably. It means less demand for new raw materials, and it lowers the cost for the consumer.

Car batteries are large and contain a great deal of valuable material, which makes recycling them all the more important. Recycling car batteries is also a step towards a circular economy in the car industry.

Reusing batteries, also known as the "second life" method, is a further option: after its first life, a battery is given a stationary role, for example storing energy from solar panels. Most batteries still have 70 to 80 per cent of their original capacity when they are sorted, so reuse is a logical and sustainable choice.

In the Netherlands there are various collection points where consumers can hand in their used or faulty lithium-ion batteries. Elsewhere in the EU, ask your local council or the shop where you bought the battery. Use the proper channels when you dispose of these batteries. That avoids safety risks, and it makes sure the battery ends up in recycling or reuse.

Recycling and reusing lithium-ion batteries is more than an environmentally friendly choice. It is a step towards a more sustainable and more energy-efficient future. A circular economy for batteries keeps their materials in use, and that makes for a cleaner world.

KWS Seuren re-cells batteries, mainly e-bike batteries. We started in 2017 and have grown a fair bit over the years, in size and in knowledge. KWS was set up by three brothers with an interest in batteries and everything to do with electronics. They also saw a sustainable future in re-celling batteries.

As the company kept growing, so did the amount of waste, and most of that waste was old lithium-ion cells. It used to go to a company that shipped it abroad, where it could be recycled and used again to make new cells.

At KWS we thought this could be done more sustainably, so we started developing our own process that separates the cells into their materials.

As we expand our services, we need more used and faulty e-bike batteries. That is why we actively look for them: their parts let us supply what our customers need. We also want to keep building our knowledge of repairs.

Do you still have old, faulty or worn-out e-bike batteries that would otherwise be thrown away? We can probably repair a large share of them for you, or take them in. With the parts we recover from them we can widen our range and improve our service.

We are mainly interested in well-known brands such as Bosch, Gazelle, Flyer, Batavus, Multicycle, BionX and Sparta. Lesser-known batteries are welcome too, so that we always have a fitting solution for our customers.