Internationales Verkehrswesen (75) 3 | 2023 18 POLITIK International The new EU Battery Regulation Reducing Europe’s dependency on supplying raw materials Electric vehicles, EU battery regulation, Rare earth elements, Raw materials Global sales of electric vehicles are on the rise. A temporary supply shortage or scarcity for some raw materials could be critical for Europe since it has a high dependency on other countries supplying raw material. To counteract this, the European Union has proposed a new battery regulation. Elisabeth Gütl W ith an increasing number of electric vehicles on the roads comes the rising demand for raw materials that are required for the manufacturing of electric vehicles. Along with this surge in demand, a temporary supply shortage or scarcity for some raw materials might occur in the future. This is especially critical for Europe since it has a high dependency on other countries supplying raw material. To counteract this, the European Union has proposed a new battery regulation, replacing the existing Batteries Directive 2006/ 66/ EC, including implementing targets for waste battery recovery. Europe’s dependency on raw materials for electric vehicles Along with the increasing effect of climate change and the resulting political actions to counteract it, more and more electric vehicles can be seen on the roads. This presents not only a major challenge in setting up the necessary infrastructure, but also with regards to the raw materials and the ramp up of their mining. When comparing the amount of minerals needed in an electric vehicle to the amount needed in a conventional car with an internal combustion engine, a significantly higher number of minerals is needed in order to manufacture an electric vehicle. A graph by the International Energy Agency provides a comparison between electric and conventional cars for some of the minerals used, showing that electric vehicles need around six times more minerals than conventional vehicles (see figure 1, steel and aluminum not included in the figure) [1]. Since the mining of most raw materials happens outside of Europe, Europe has a high dependency on several supplying countries which mine the raw materials needed for electric vehicles. When taking a closer look on the different components of electric vehicles, it is possible that different raw materials could be scarce in the future. Today’s mining capacity for example of lithium and cobalt is not sufficient to cover the forecasted demand for batteries in the future. To meet the expected demand in the future, the current cobalt production must be three times the current one; for lithium it would be even six times the current lithium production [2]. The permanent synchronous motor, one type of commonly used motors in the powertrain of electric vehicles, consists of a magnet using rare earth elements as raw material. Regarding rare earth elements, Europe is highly dependent on China, being the country with the highest export number of rare earths. The term ‘rare earths’ does not imply that the raw materials themselves are rare, however the mining produces toxic waste as a by-product and they must also be concentrated enough to result in profitable mining [3]. To reduce the dependency on countries supplying critical raw materials and to move forward into a more sustainable future with a higher recycling quota, the European Union agreed to change the existing battery directive to a new EU battery regulation. The new EU battery regulation The EU Battery Directive 2006/ 66/ EC, targeting batteries and accumulators, has been in place since the year 2006 and specifies limits for hazardous materials in batteries or accumulators like mercury or lead, which are presenting a risk for humans and the environment. The Directive furthermore sets collection targets for portable batteries and divides them into three different classes: portable, automotive, and 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Copper Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Graphite Zinc Rare earths Others [kg/ vehicle] Conventional car Electric car Figure 1: Comparison of minerals used in electric and in conventional cars [1] Internationales Verkehrswesen (75) 3 | 2023 19 International POLITIK industrial batteries. However, for the movement towards a more sustainable and greener future, the EU Battery Directive is no longer meeting the expectations to support this transition. Therefore, the old EU battery directive will be replaced by a new EU battery regulation, which has a binding force for every member state of the European Union and contains several changes, as follows: •• A new battery category will be introduced with electric vehicle batteries; •• Improvement of the battery value chain; •• Setting specific recycling targets which are gradually increasing; •• From 2027 it will be a requirement for labels on batteries and accumulators to include information regarding the hazardous substances contained or type of battery. In particular, the new recycling targets were tightened, forcing battery-makers from 2027 onwards to recover for example 90 % of nickel and cobalt, the percentage rising to 95 % in 2031 and to recover 50 % of lithium from 2027 onwards, rising to 80 % in 2031. Another novelty in the new EU battery regulation will be the statement of CO 2 balance of batteries used in electric vehicles, as well as the labelling and information on the components of batteries and how much recycled content they contain. Already from July 2024 onwards it is planned that batteries must indicate a carbon footprint declaration [4]. For some raw materials the recycling techniques and processes are adequate and the recycling quota is high, whereas for raw materials, like rare earth elements or lithium, a ramp-up is still necessary to reduce the dependency. Recycling methods for raw materials According to the study on the EU’s list of Critical Raw Materials [5] several raw materials are considered as critical with a supply risk and of economic importance, including lithium and rare earth elements. Referring to the mentioned scarcity of raw materials as lithium and considering that the mining capacity of lithium might not be able to meet the future market demand, recycling technologies for lithium are becoming an important pillar and a widely discussed topic. To recycle lithium, a raw material of a battery in an electric vehicle, the first step is discharging the battery below a hazardous voltage level before dismantling it. The process step that separates the different materials of a battery is called mechanical pre-treatment but needs further processing in the form of a hydrometallurgical process step in which impurities are also removed-[6]. The composition of raw materials used in the magnet of permanent synchronous motors can vary, but rare earth elements are a crucial part of it. When it comes to rare earth elements, there is a differentiation according to their atomic numbers, making rare earth elements with atomic numbers between 57 and 63 light rare earth elements and between 64 to 71 heavy rare earth elements. neodymium, part of neodymiumiron-boron permanent magnets (NdFeB magnets) is a light rare earth element, with China being the most important supplier globally with a market share of 86 %. Dysprosium, a heavy rare earth element, is added to magnets to increase the temperature stability against demagnetization. Again, there is a high dependency on China as the global supplying country, with 86 % being the most important supplier for dysprosium [5]. For the recycling of rare earth elements different approaches and methods are possible but making hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical methods are the most common ones. They both offer the potential for individual rare earth elements recovery to be reused in magnets [7]. Conclusion In moving towards a greener and sustainable future the demand for certain raw materials is increasing. For electric vehicles some raw materials are especially critical with a high supply risk, particularly rare earth elements, part of permanent magnets in permanent magnet synchronous motors. Ramping up mining to meet future demand can be one benchmark to meet the expected market demand, but robust recycling methods can offer a significant source of supply in the future. To encourage and accelerate this ramp up of recycling, the new EU battery regulation paves the way to a more sustainable future. ■ REFERENCES [1] World Energy Outlook Special Report. www.iea.org/ data-andstatistics/ charts/ minerals-used-in-electric-cars-compared-to-conventional-cars (accessed 2023, July 03): [2] Maisel, F.; Neef, C.; Marscheider-Weidmann, F.; Nissen, N. (2023): A forecast on future raw material demand and recycling potential of lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles. In: Resources, Conservation and Recycling, Vol: 192. [3] www.eias.org/ wp-content/ uploads/ 2016/ 02/ EIAS_Briefing_ Paper_2014-7_Ebner.pdf (accessed 2023, June 27): [4] www.europarl.europa.eu/ RegData/ etudes/ BRIE/ 2021/ 689337/ EPRS_BRI(2021)689337_EN.pdf (accessed 2023, June 27): [5] Blengini, G.; et al. (2020): Study on the EU’s list of Critical Raw Materials Final Report. [6] Neumann, J.; Petranikova, M.; Meeus, M.; Gamarra, J.; Younesi, R.; Winter,M.; Nowak, S. (2022): Recycling of Lithium-Ion Batteries— Current State of the Art, Circular Economy, and Next Generation Recycling. In: Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 12. [7] Fujita, Y.; McCall, S.K.; Ginosar, D. (2022): Recycling rare earths: Perspectives and recent advances. In. MRS Bulletin 47, pp. 283-288. Elisabeth Gütl, Dipl.-Ing. Subject Matter Expert - System Engineering, Magna Powertrain, Traiskirchen (AT) elisabeth.guetl@magna.com