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Porsche's pilot aims to recycle high-voltage battery materials, enhancing sustainability and reducing reliance on volatile raw material markets
Porsche is advancing its sustainability strategy through a pioneering recycling pilot project designed to enhance its independence from volatile and geopolitically unstable raw material markets. Initially, high-voltage batteries from development vehicles are shredded post-use, producing a granulate mixture known as "black mass" that comprises essential materials like nickel, cobalt, manganese and lithium — achieving around 65 tons of this mixture so far.
This black mass is then refined to separate these valuable raw materials, which are critical for manufacturing high-quality batteries for electric vehicles. Porsche places special emphasis on the quality and purity of these recycled materials.
In the final phase of the pilot, Porsche plans to incorporate a defined proportion of these recycled materials into high-voltage battery cells and test their applicability in their vehicles.
Barbara Frenkel, an executive board member for procurement at Porsche, highlighted the importance of a circular economy as a fundamental aspect of the company's sustainability efforts. This project is structured into three phases to ensure suitability for serial application.
This effort underscores Porsche's commitment to a holistic circular economy approach, wherein resources from decommissioned batteries are reused, thereby extending their life cycle and minimizing the environmental footprint of battery production. This initiative also aligns with Porsche's preparation for impending regulatory changes in the EU, expected to come into force by 2031, by promoting the early adoption of recycled materials.
Furthermore, Porsche's broader "circular economy" strategy aims at sustainable material use and the longevity of vehicles and their components, promoting circular concepts across the vehicle value chain. This includes the deployment of circular materials, waste reduction and component remanufacturing.
In addition to its sustainability endeavors, Porsche continues to innovate, as evidenced by Porsche Engineering's development of an 'AC battery' and the acquisition of V4Drive GmbH from VARTA AG-Group in March 2025. Porsche's new battery storage system spans nearly two basketball courts and comprises 4,400 battery modules, demonstrating the company's commitment to using recycled materials and closing resource loops, thus playing a crucial role in the development of closed battery raw material cycles.
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