Dallas-based global battery recycling provider Ecobat has signed an agreement with Volkswagen Group United Kingdom Ltd. to collect and recycle electric vehicle batteries. VWG UK said the deal will promote a “circular energy economy” and ensure the UK’s largest automotive group is doing all it can to boost sustainability.

Elliott Ethridge

“We’ve been recycling lead batteries for VWG UK for a decade, and we are delighted to be able to extend our relationship to recycle EV lithium-ion batteries. Lithium-ion is a fast-growing technology, and our recycling operations can handle everything from small-format batteries to EV batteries,” Elliott Ethridge, VP of global sales for Ecobat, said in a statement.

“We also recover scrap, byproducts, end-of-life, and damaged products to help make lithium-ion battery production more sustainable,” he added. “Our expertise in recycling and recovering scarce battery materials will benefit both Volkswagen Group and the environment.”

Ecobat said its relationship with VWG UK dates back to 2014, when it started collecting lead acid batteries for TPS, the Volkswagen Group Genuine Parts provider to the independent motor trade.

That contract was expanded in 2019, when Ecobat started working with high-voltage batteries, and since its UK Diagnostics and Disassembly Centre in Darlaston in the West Midlands was opened, it has processed and upgraded “thousands of batteries.”

Earlier this month, Ecobat appointed Thomas Slabe as its new CEO. “No other company has our breadth of market knowledge and infrastructure for recycling of lead and lithium-ion batteries,” he said on taking his new post.

Ensuring ‘sustainability throughout the lifecycle’

Under this latest agreement, Ecobat said it will collect EV batteries to recycle lithium-ion battery materials.

Ecobat said it will collect high-voltage batteries from dealers, distributors, and end-of-life recycling centers using Ecobat’s ADR compliant vehicles. Batteries will be processed at Ecobat’s new UK lithium-ion recycling center. This is Ecobat’s third lithium-ion recycling facility, in addition to facilities operating in Germany and Arizona.

“I’m pleased to be extending and expanding our relationship with Ecobat. As we move to decarbonize road transport, the number of electric vehicles in our car park is rapidly increasing, and we need to ensure sustainability throughout the lifecycle,” Sylvain Charbonnier, director of One Aftersales for Volkswagen Group UK, said in a statement. “Working with our trusted partners, we are confident we can reassure our dealers and customers that we are responsibly moving towards our electrification goals.” 

Volkswagen AG said it was the first major automotive company to commit itself to the aims of the Paris Climate Agreement and has developed a groupwide decarbonization program.

Volkswagen added that it has launched the most comprehensive electrification initiative in the automotive industry and is committed to the introduction of e-mobility.

The company will have roughly 50 fully electric models in the market by 2030—the result of investing roughly €180 billion in digitalization and electrification by 2027.

Volkswagen Group UK offers about 15 electric vehicles in the UK, a number that is set to rise. In 2023 the Group accounted for more than one in five passenger car BEV registrations in the UK, making it the market leader.

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