Porsche Develops Battery Made Entirely from Recycled Electric Vehicle Batteries
Porsche, together with the startup Cylib, has developed experimental battery cells made using 100% recycled cathode material. The lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese used for the new cells were fully recovered from used battery packs of electric vehicles produced by the German automaker.
The raw materials were recycled at a plant in Germany using an environmentally friendly water-based process known as hydrometallurgy. Initial tests have already confirmed the technical suitability of the resulting cells, while the use of secondary materials in Porsche’s production batteries is planned for 2028.
The development exceeds current European Union requirements by 16 times. Under EU regulations, by 2031 new batteries will be required to contain only 6% recycled lithium and nickel, as well as 16% recycled cobalt. Porsche’s announced 100% figure demonstrates the brand’s readiness to move toward a closed-loop production system.
A shortage of old batteries remains a limiting factor for the widespread adoption of secondary materials. Most electric vehicles in Europe are still in operation, while around 90% of the batteries supplied are manufactured in China and South Korea.
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