Honda Motor Europe is continuing its expansion beyond transport. The firm is is expanding its electric vehicle (EV) battery recycling operations, rolling out re-processing to 22 countries across the continent.
Extending a seven-year partnership with French company SNAM, the arrangement will see the specialist metals recycler collect and process traction-standard batteries in cars collected through Honda’s dealer network. Second lives as power storage units in customers’ homes, within business premises, or stripping them of valuable lithium, cobalt and nickel metal hydride to build new batteries, are the goals.
The car maker and SNAM began working together in 2013, ensuring the traceability of end-of-life batteries and their safe disposal. The partners have now developed an app to authenticate and track Honda’s kit through the re-purposing process.
Tom Gardner, its senior vice president for Europe, said: “As demand for Honda’s expanding range of hybrids and EVs grows, 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 recent improved recycling techniques to recover useful raw materials which can be used as feedstock into the production of new batteries.”
Honda committed last year to have its European range either all-electric or hybrid powered by 2025, it also launched an energy management arm, and injected £8 million into smart grid platform Moixa, in pursuit of extended intelligent management and better battery value for car buyers.
The two are working together on various energy management projects, including a trial at Islington Town Hall, where five electric vehicles, using bi-directional chargers, are capable of powering the entire building.
Speaking at the official launch of that project, Honda’s Gardner indicated that the company sees a significant future beyond transport.
“We do not just see ourselves as a mobility provider,” said Waite. “We are a tech provider as well.”
Other carmakers, including Volkswagen and Nissan, are also pushing into energy management as transport and power systems converge.
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