Israeli Startup Facilitates Recycling of Lithium Electric Car Batteries

With the increase in the number of electric vehicles on the road, lithium car battery recycling has become a pressing issue. 

By Shula Rosen

Electric cars may solve the problem of carbon emissions, but they will also create another burden on the planet: toxic lithium batteries.

Israel does not yet require sustainable disposal of these batteries, but with the increase in the number of electric vehicles on the road, electric car battery recycling has become a pressing issue.

Batte-Re is the first Israeli company to recycle lithium batteries from cars and other electronics.

Tomer Aharon, COO of Batte-Re describes to Times of Israel his immaculate plant in Rotem Industrial Park near Dimona, in southern Israel.

Several vacuum cleaners are used in the factory to ensure that no particles of powder from old batteries can contaminate the area.

“This is both because it’s valuable and because we don’t want to breathe it,” Aharon explains.

Batteries emit powder composed of nickel, manganese, cobalt, and lithium, which could be dangerous to humans and the environment if exposed to them.

Batte-Re CEO Ofir Avidan describes the waste created by the auto industry and tells TOI, “Every year, around 350,000 new vehicles hit the roads in Israel, and about 200,000 are taken off. Maybe 10 percent of scrapped cars are processed properly. The car bodies often stay put, and engines end up dumped in streambeds.”

With 20% of new cars sold in Israel electric, Batte-Re executives have expressed the desire to recycle the cars’ chassis, but they will start with the batteries.

Avidan said, “The company founders wanted to advance Israel’s circular economy and make money, of course … creating a loop and reusing the materials after they’ve served in a previous battery makes sense.”

When batteries arrive at the center they are neutralized so they are no longer toxic and can be reused.

Aharon says, “Lithium batteries power everything around us. These processes exist and are known, but dealing with a vehicle battery is something Israel is still somewhat unfamiliar with.”