As electrification brings vehicle recycling closer to the energy market, authorised treatment facilities could use solar, second-life EV batteries and available yard space to cut power costs, support grid resilience and create new revenue streams. For recyclers, energy generation may become a practical extension of circular operations.
Cathal Murphy
As electrification reshapes the vehicle sector, car recyclers are likely to find themselves increasingly connected to the energy market. From second-life EV batteries and solar-powered sites to the possibility of ATFs generating and storing their own electricity, new opportunities are emerging for operators to make better use of land, reduce energy costs and create additional revenue streams. Cathal Murphy, Analyst with Mulhare Group, providers of EV charging, solar PV and electrical solutions, explores how vehicle recycling and renewable energy could become more closely linked in the years ahead.
Car recycling is one of the original sustainable practices, dating back to before sustainability became a political mantra. It is a template that other sectors can emulate, and it may now itself move into sustainable energy.
As we move into a different era of vehicle fuel with electricity, the vehicle industry as a whole will interact with a sector it has never done before, that is, the energy sector. The fuel that transport will require with electricity will differ from fossil fuels in that it can be generated locally and on different scales.
Where Vehicle Recycling Meets the Energy Sector
The links between energy production and vehicle recycling will, I believe, emerge in different layers. Obviously, as a first, the vehicle battery will have many uses, including being repurposed for use in the electricity grid. This is already occurring. Secondly, the link between domestic solar panels and EV ownership is emerging as Volkswagen have begun to offer panel sales.1 This demonstrates how connected electricity production and vehicles will become in the future. Many homes with solar also have batteries, and the first installations of solar are coming to the end of their lives. Where will these solar panels be recycled?
Lastly, there is the car recycler as an energy producer in itself. This may represent a bigger change than was imagined. Renewable energy is increasing because it needs to increase to meet demand. Costs in renewable energy, such as solar panels and batteries, have decreased. There has been a growth in local, smaller-scale electricity generation, which can help the grid be more resilient. How are these seemingly disparate industries to be linked in the future? Energy production is changing, so too is transport with electrification, and with change comes opportunity.
Car Recyclers as Electricity Producers
Electricity generation needs to expand to meet future demand. This is not just for future electric transport but across the whole economy. Without access to fossil fuels and with growing awareness of carbon emissions, renewable electricity is going to be an important part of the future electricity mix. All the resources we have available will be required to generate the necessary renewable energy, across wind and solar, and also utilising the land to the best purpose.
Making Better Use of Yard Space
Car recycling requires a great deal of the rarest of commodities: land. More land, of course, may be required as EV recycling grows and regulation requires greater distance between vehicles. On the other hand, renewable energy requires much more space than traditional fossil fuel generation.
In France, we have seen GPA vehicle recyclers install a considerable scale solar farm.2 This solar was placed on canopies over the vehicles, so the land is providing dual use for the company without occupying any valuable agricultural land.
Agricultural land, of course, is usually the main go-to area for large-scale solar. However, this can be controversial at times, as solar might occupy acreage otherwise used for food production. In time, alternative land may be preferable, such as where there can be dual usage. Currently, landowners in many countries lease a plot for a certain period, and the lease is priced per hectare. So a solar project could be completed by another party, with the car recycler receiving an annual payment. Incidentally, in France, new legislation requires all outdoor car parks with more than 80 spaces to install solar panels. Utilising space is important for renewable energy policy.
One of the great advantages of solar is its versatility in scale. It can be rooftop of varying sizes, and used for domestic purposes for a house or business, self-supply, and excess could also, in places, be sold back to the grid. Solar can be ground-mounted to supply larger businesses or scaled bigger again to sell to the electricity market. Whether it is large roof spaces or tracts of land, solar can be installed on a range of buildings and land of different sizes, with self-supply or grid-supply options.
This is also a subsidised energy source. Many countries, like Britain and across Europe, offer grant support for the installation of smaller-scale generation, and there is usually a tariff support for the larger-scale construction.
Solar and Battery Storage as New Revenue Streams
Recycled EV batteries can further contribute to electricity production. If we grow renewable electricity, an essential part of this energy mix must include electricity storage. The use of EV batteries for energy storage is widely discussed and will be important for car recycling to be part of the process.
Combining solar energy with a battery at any site means even more efficient use of the electricity generated. It means also possibly more revenue from the batteries by soaking up excess electricity at times of low demand and discharging to deliver much-needed on-demand power to a company for their own use on-site or to the grid.
Better use of land, expanding much-needed renewable energy, self-supply or to the grid, using recycled batteries. With this recipe, car recyclers might emerge as players in a new energy sector.
Auto-Recycling and the Future Energy Market
Generating your own power from car recycling?
As electrification brings vehicle recycling closer to the energy market, authorised treatment facilities could use solar, second-life EV batteries and available yard space to cut power costs, support grid resilience and create new revenue streams. For recyclers, energy generation may become a practical extension of circular operations.
As electrification reshapes the vehicle sector, car recyclers are likely to find themselves increasingly connected to the energy market. From second-life EV batteries and solar-powered sites to the possibility of ATFs generating and storing their own electricity, new opportunities are emerging for operators to make better use of land, reduce energy costs and create additional revenue streams. Cathal Murphy, Analyst with Mulhare Group, providers of EV charging, solar PV and electrical solutions, explores how vehicle recycling and renewable energy could become more closely linked in the years ahead.
Car recycling is one of the original sustainable practices, dating back to before sustainability became a political mantra. It is a template that other sectors can emulate, and it may now itself move into sustainable energy.
As we move into a different era of vehicle fuel with electricity, the vehicle industry as a whole will interact with a sector it has never done before, that is, the energy sector. The fuel that transport will require with electricity will differ from fossil fuels in that it can be generated locally and on different scales.
Where Vehicle Recycling Meets the Energy Sector
The links between energy production and vehicle recycling will, I believe, emerge in different layers. Obviously, as a first, the vehicle battery will have many uses, including being repurposed for use in the electricity grid. This is already occurring. Secondly, the link between domestic solar panels and EV ownership is emerging as Volkswagen have begun to offer panel sales.1 This demonstrates how connected electricity production and vehicles will become in the future. Many homes with solar also have batteries, and the first installations of solar are coming to the end of their lives. Where will these solar panels be recycled?
Lastly, there is the car recycler as an energy producer in itself. This may represent a bigger change than was imagined. Renewable energy is increasing because it needs to increase to meet demand. Costs in renewable energy, such as solar panels and batteries, have decreased. There has been a growth in local, smaller-scale electricity generation, which can help the grid be more resilient. How are these seemingly disparate industries to be linked in the future? Energy production is changing, so too is transport with electrification, and with change comes opportunity.
Car Recyclers as Electricity Producers
Electricity generation needs to expand to meet future demand. This is not just for future electric transport but across the whole economy. Without access to fossil fuels and with growing awareness of carbon emissions, renewable electricity is going to be an important part of the future electricity mix. All the resources we have available will be required to generate the necessary renewable energy, across wind and solar, and also utilising the land to the best purpose.
Making Better Use of Yard Space
Car recycling requires a great deal of the rarest of commodities: land. More land, of course, may be required as EV recycling grows and regulation requires greater distance between vehicles. On the other hand, renewable energy requires much more space than traditional fossil fuel generation.
In France, we have seen GPA vehicle recyclers install a considerable scale solar farm.2 This solar was placed on canopies over the vehicles, so the land is providing dual use for the company without occupying any valuable agricultural land.
Agricultural land, of course, is usually the main go-to area for large-scale solar. However, this can be controversial at times, as solar might occupy acreage otherwise used for food production. In time, alternative land may be preferable, such as where there can be dual usage. Currently, landowners in many countries lease a plot for a certain period, and the lease is priced per hectare. So a solar project could be completed by another party, with the car recycler receiving an annual payment. Incidentally, in France, new legislation requires all outdoor car parks with more than 80 spaces to install solar panels. Utilising space is important for renewable energy policy.
One of the great advantages of solar is its versatility in scale. It can be rooftop of varying sizes, and used for domestic purposes for a house or business, self-supply, and excess could also, in places, be sold back to the grid. Solar can be ground-mounted to supply larger businesses or scaled bigger again to sell to the electricity market. Whether it is large roof spaces or tracts of land, solar can be installed on a range of buildings and land of different sizes, with self-supply or grid-supply options.
This is also a subsidised energy source. Many countries, like Britain and across Europe, offer grant support for the installation of smaller-scale generation, and there is usually a tariff support for the larger-scale construction.
Solar and Battery Storage as New Revenue Streams
Recycled EV batteries can further contribute to electricity production. If we grow renewable electricity, an essential part of this energy mix must include electricity storage. The use of EV batteries for energy storage is widely discussed and will be important for car recycling to be part of the process.
Combining solar energy with a battery at any site means even more efficient use of the electricity generated. It means also possibly more revenue from the batteries by soaking up excess electricity at times of low demand and discharging to deliver much-needed on-demand power to a company for their own use on-site or to the grid.
Better use of land, expanding much-needed renewable energy, self-supply or to the grid, using recycled batteries. With this recipe, car recyclers might emerge as players in a new energy sector.
1 https://www.euronews.com/business/2024/06/11/volkswagen-looks-to-brighten-up-electric-car-sales-with-solar-panels
2 https://autorecyclingworld.com/french-auto-recycler-takes-sustainability-to-another-level/
Further Reading on Auto Recycling World
China eyes second-life EV batteries as grid-storage resource
Stena Recycling expands major investment in electric vehicle batteries
Autocirc launches Europe’s first established solution for circular management of EVs and batteries
Rejoule – Solving the EV battery remanufacturing bottleneck
EV Battery Recycling – Needs Clear Policy
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