As electric vehicle use expands across Europe, ensuring that batteries can be safely reused, repurposed and recycled is becoming increasingly important. BatteReverse, a Horizon Europe project involving 10 partners from six European countries, is developing solutions to improve lithium-ion battery reverse logistics, from battery assessment and safe transportation to automated dismantling, second-life applications and data exchange.
Building on this work, EIT Urban Mobility, as the communication and stakeholder engagement lead of the project, led the development of the position paper Enabling Europe’s Circular Battery Value Chain. It draws from the experience and results of not only BatteReverse but also sister projects REBELION, REINFORCE and RECIRCULATE, and identifies several priorities for moving circular battery solutions from research and demonstration towards wider deployment:
- Better access to battery data to support reliable diagnostics and decisions on reuse, repurposing and recycling.
- Interoperable Battery Passports and data spaces to improve traceability and information exchange across the battery value chain.
- Greater standardisation and harmonisation of diagnostic methods, safety procedures and data structures.
- Design for disassembly, repair and reuse to make batteries easier and safer to process at end of life.
- Safer reverse logistics, supported by reliable battery assessment, appropriate packaging and monitoring.
- Viable circular business models that can support the commercial scale-up of second-life, reuse and recycling solutions.
The findings show that scaling battery circularity requires more than technological innovation. Data, regulation, standardisation, safety and business models must develop together to create an efficient and competitive European circular battery ecosystem.
Read the full position paper: Enabling Europe’s Circular Battery Value Chain
