Honda expands battery recycling partnership

Honda has announced that it is expanding its battery recycling partnership.

The firm is working with SNAM (Société Nouvelle d’Affinage des Métaux) to explore and advance the sustainable usability of its end-of-life batteries.

An agreement between the two companies sees SNAM collect and recycle used batteries from Honda’s range of hybrid and electric vehicles, and then prepare them for ‘second-life’ renewable energy storage uses. If that can’t be achieved, then the valuable materials from the batteries will be extracted for recycling.

This latest announcement will allow SNAM to collect lithium-ion and Nickel Metal Hydride batteries from Honda’s dealer network and treatment facilities across 22 countries.

Tom Gardner, senior vice president at Honda Motor Europe, said: “As demand for Honda’s expanding range of hybrid and electric cars continues to grow so does the requirement to manage batteries in the most environmentally friendly way possible.

“Recent market developments may allow us to make use of these batteries in a second life application for powering businesses or by using recently improved recycling techniques to recover useful raw materials which can be used as feedstock into the production of new batteries.”

Dealers can request the collection of end-of-life batteries for treatment through SNAM’s online platform.