The share of electric vehicle sales has been increasing in recent years, and this trend is expected to continue. Switzerland is set to align itself with the European Union, which has decided to ban the sale of petrol vehi-cles from 2035. Many challenges must be overcome in order to meet this deadline, particularly in terms of sustainability.
Improving the sustainability of electric vehicle batteries at all stages of their life cycle. This is the challenge that the partners involved in the Flagship project CircuBAT, supported by Innosuisse, have set themselves. The aim is to reduce the ecological footprint of automotive Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries throughout their life stages by creating a circular business model.
CircuBAT connects the major stakeholders along the complete lifecycle of lithium-ion batteries. Among them are partners from Industry, Government and NGOs along the complete value chain of a lithium-ion battery lifecycle. Maximizing metal recovery and resource efficiency will provide materials for use in a future manu-facturing process and avoid that the battery enters a landfill or other disposal facility with no recovery of any of its remaining value. Extending the usable lifetime in first-use applications and increasing the amount of second-use and second-life opportunities allows to minimize the total CO2-footprint of lithium-ion bat-tery systems during the lifetime.

Links:
•    https://circubat.ch/
•    https://www.innosuisse.ch/inno/en/home/success-stories/funding-examples/innovation-projects/circubat.html