Iveco Group has selected BASF (FWB: BAS), the world’s leading chemical company and biggest chemical supplier for the automotive industry, as its first partner to provide a recycling solution for the lithium-ion batteries of the Group’s electric vehicles.

This decision is part of Iveco Group’s circular economy strategy which follows the 4R Framework—Repair, Refurbish, Repurpose and Recycling—to increase the lifetime of the batteries while decreasing their overall environmental impact, and Iveco Group will ensure compliance with the Extended Producer Responsibility policy which holds producers responsible for the entire life cycle of the products they introduce on the market, from their design until end-of-life.

BASF, which has recently inaugurated Europe’s first co-located center of battery material production and battery recycling in Schwarzheide, Germany, will organize and manage the entire recycling process for the lithium-ion batteries used on Iveco Group electric vans, buses and trucks. The agreement includes the collection, packaging, transport, and recycling of batteries, in various European countries including, among others, France, Germany and UK.

After collection, BASF will mechanically process the batteries to black mass, from which critical raw materials such as nickel, cobalt, lithium can be extracted and recovered for use in the manufacturing of new batteries. Thus, BASF will establish the full battery recycling value chain in Europe to provide recycled metals with a low carbon footprint locally for the battery industry.