Volkswagen Group UK (VWG UK) has signed an agreement with the battery recycling company Ecobat, to collect and recycle electric vehicle (EV) batteries and thereby help VWG UK ‘close the loop to promote a circular energy economy and ensures the UK’s largest automotive group is doing all it can to boost sustainability’.

Ecobat has a relationship with VWG UK dating back to 2014, when it started collecting lead acid batteries for TPS, the Volkswagen Group Genuine Parts provider to the independent motor trade. The contract was expanded in 2019, when Ecobat started working with high-voltage batteries; and since the company’s UK Diagnostics and Disassembly Centre in Darlaston in the West Midlands was opened, it has processed and upgraded many thousands of batteries.

Under this latest agreement, Ecobat will collect EV batteries to recycle lithium-ion battery materials. The company will collect high-voltage batteries from dealers, distributors, and end-of-life recycling centres, and process them at its new UK lithium-ion recycling centre. This is Ecobat’s third lithium-ion recycling facility, the others being in Germany, and Arizona in the USA.

Elliott Ethridge, Ecobat’s vice president of global sales, said: “We have 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. We also recover scrap, by-products, end-of-life, and damaged products to help make lithium-ion battery production more sustainable. Our expertise in recycling and recovering scarce battery materials will benefit both Volkswagen Group and the environment.”

VWG UK currently offers around 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.