en.Wedoany.com Reported - In collaboration with its joint venture Encory, the BMW Group has established a Battery Recycling Competence Center (CRCC) in Salching, Bavaria, Germany, to advance sustainable battery manufacturing.
The facility employs a direct recycling technology developed by the BMW Group, which eliminates the need for energy-intensive thermal treatment. It aims to close resource loops and enhance the environmental sustainability of the battery production cycle. According to BMW Group reports, electrified vehicles accounted for 26% of its global sales in 2025, with pure electric vehicles (BEVs) making up 18%. In the European market, BEV sales grew by 28.2%, reflecting a rising demand for sustainable mobility.
Encory is a joint venture owned by the BMW Group and the Interzero Group, specializing in the recycling of automotive components and circular solutions. The CRCC will utilize a direct recycling process that mechanically breaks down batteries to recover raw materials like lithium, nickel, and cobalt, which are then reintegrated into the production cycle. Alexander Maak, Managing Director of Encory, stated, "With this Competence Center, we are taking a significant step towards a circular economy. Direct recycling allows us to efficiently recover active materials for direct use in battery manufacturing, avoiding complex preparation or the additional extraction of critical metals."
The BMW Group estimates that once fully operational, the facility will process tens of tons of recycled battery materials annually. The direct recycling process differs from methods like hydrometallurgy and pyrometallurgy; it does not require complete decomposition of raw materials but instead feeds them directly back into the battery production loop, bypassing traditional energy-intensive processing steps. Markus Fallböhmer, Senior Vice President of Battery Production at BMW AG, said, "Our direct recycling process puts us at the forefront of the industry. This technology holds great potential for optimizing battery production." The recycled materials will be reused in pilot production at the BMW Group's Battery Cell Manufacturing Competence Center (CMCC) in Parsdorf, forming a sustainable manufacturing ecosystem.
Management consulting firm McKinsey predicts that over 100 million electric vehicle batteries will reach their end-of-life in the next decade, highlighting the need for efficient recycling infrastructure. Innovative processes like direct recycling aim to increase material recovery rates while reducing energy consumption and emissions. The CRCC is a key initiative in building the circular economy infrastructure needed to support the growing electric vehicle market.
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