Battery knowledge · Recycling and end of life
Recycling efficiency
The mass of a battery that ends up in useful products, as a share of the battery’s mass, calculated by the method fixed under the EU Battery Regulation; separate material recovery targets apply to lithium, cobalt, nickel and copper. Energy recovery by burning does not count. [1]
- Unit
- %
Example
Recycling efficiency counts every product by mass
η = 0.40 + 0.60 × 0.60 = 76.0 %. The 65 % target needs at least 42 % of the cell mass back as product.
Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/606 decides which output fractions count; energy recovery and backfilling never do. Here the parts are taken as fully recovered and every product counts.
Explore the graph
Dismantled parts count with the recovered materials, so a heavy pack housing makes the target easier to reach.
η = 0.40 + 0.60 × 0.60 = 76.0 %. The 65 % target needs at least 42 % of the cell mass back as product.
η = m_products / m_input = p_parts + (1 − p_parts) × r_cells
Illustrative model. Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/606 decides which output fractions count; energy recovery and backfilling never do. Here the parts are taken as fully recovered and every product counts.
Use in Lemonergy
Distinguish recovered material from a qualified product.
This is a reference concept. No executable Lemonergy block has been verified for this term.
References & further reading
Technical references
- Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 concerning batteries and waste batteries
European Union / EUR-Lex · 2023
Technical reference · Battery sustainability, information, waste management and battery passport provisions. Consult the current consolidated text and applicable implementing acts.
Further reading on this topic
These sources provide broader context; they are not presented as citations for every statement in this entry.
- Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Topic background · Battery construction, recycling routes and U.S. waste-management context.
- Recycling lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles
Gavin Harper et al. · Nature · 2019
Topic background · Reuse, disassembly and mechanical, hydro-, pyro- and direct recycling routes.