For the recycling of vehicles, Stellantis chooses France (how strange…)
Stellantis had announced that Mirafiori will be at the center of the group's circular economy strategy, but in the meantime, for the recycling of cars, it starts from France, Belgium and Luxembourg…
If in the old way of understanding the automobile, Germany was the industry of the Old Continent, in the age of ecological transition France could aspire to be the "reconditioner" of abandoned vehicles. Or, to put it in modern terms, a huge hub dedicated to the circular economy.
THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY REALLY PAYS OFF
Attention, there is much more behind it than the green washing practiced as if there were no tomorrow by all companies. European car manufacturers don't want to invest time and money in salvaging what can be salvaged from the sheet metal of end-of-life vehicles just for a facade operation (of course, there is still a lot of marketing involved). They have to do it essentially to remain competitive with China, which today adds its endless reserves of metals and rare earths to the traditional low-cost labor force, essential for the production of semiconductors and batteries.
In short, European car manufacturers need to shorten the supply chain and, above all, not depend on capricious and fickle countries in terms of foreign policy, to avoid supply difficulties ( here the map of the new automotive supply chains , including the supply with the mining giants).
THE EU HAS NO RAW MATERIALS AND FRANCE IS MOVING BY ITSELF
Between now and 2030, Europe will produce no more than 30% of its needs for minerals strategic for electric batteries in the energy transition, such as lithium, cobalt or nickel, which it will then be forced to import extensively, says a report that the French government has been on the desk for quite some time. Moreover, the document could be at the basis of the fact that France is attracting investors interested in the recycling of car components.
STELLANTIS PLANS FOR RECYCLING
Last but not least, Stellantis has just signed a memorandum of understanding with the Belgian Galloo (active in metal recycling) on the basis of which exclusive negotiations will be started on the establishment of a joint venture for the recycling of end-of-life vehicles.
The new company will have to work with approved treatment facilities to take back ELVs (End-of-Life Vehicles) from the last owner of a particular vehicle, thus enabling the recovery of components for reuse, remanufacturing and recycling.
The recycling services that Stellantis intends to set up will be operational at the end of 2023 and will also be offered to other car manufacturers. We naturally start from Belgium and Luxembourg, where the partner is based and, above all, from France. This detail seems to rekindle the all-Italian controversy over the fact that Stellantis' strategy is Francocentric. So the new service will also become available in the rest of Europe.
THE GREEN BUSINESS UNIT
Stellantis recently announced a comprehensive plan for its Circular Economy business unit. The initiative, announced by the Group led by Carlos Tavares , will make it possible to obtain over 2 billion euros in revenues by 2030 and to achieve the company's ambitious decarbonisation goal, eliminating net carbon emissions by 2038.
The new organizational unit is one of seven growing business units announced in the Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan and foresees the expansion of its rigorous 360-degree approach based on the 4Rs strategy (reman, repair, reuse and recycle). The goal is to fulfill the company's ethical responsibilities and increase the financial value of Stellantis.
The main objectives of the Circular Economy business unit are “to extend the life of cars and components as much as possible. At the same time, the unit aims to put end-of-life materials and cars back into the production stream of new vehicles and products.” This methodology complies with the principles of “Design for the circular economy” which are the basis of an all-French vehicle: the new Citroën 'oli' [all-ë]. This multifunctional family vehicle concept, the Group says, uses lightweight and recycled materials, adopts sustainable production processes, aims to prolong durability and increase recyclability at the end of use and is affordable.
MIRAFIORI AT THE CENTER OF THE NEW STRATEGY?
In September, Stellantis announced that its main Circular Economy Hub will be inaugurated in 2023 at the Mirafiori complex in Italy. The transaction will expand Stellantis' current business and support the cradle-to-cradle business model in Europe.
The Hub will host vehicle reconditioning and disassembly and component remanufacturing activities. The aim is to further expand the hubs globally and their range of services. The business unit's ambitions are complementary to the activities of Aramis, a company acquired in 2016, a European leader in the online buying and selling of multi-brand used cars which, by the end of the year, will have seven internal reconditioning centers located in strategic positions in Western Europe and central.
In addition to the Circular Economy hubs, the business unit will use “local loops” to keep products and materials within countries and speed up the delivery process to customers. In Brazil, key components such as starter motors and alternators of Stellantis-branded vehicles are remanufactured, distributed and sold in 1,000 local dealerships, supporting the Circular Economy philosophy and the goal of net zero carbon emissions.
This initiative is based on the skills currently possessed by the company and represents a further step forward in the implementation of the strategic plan for the Circular Economy business unit of Stellantis. The latter aims to quadruple the revenues from the extension of the useful life of components and services and to increase the revenues obtained from recycling by 10 times, compared to 2021, by 2030.
NOT ONLY STELLANTIS: THOSE WHO WORK ON RECYCLING
Also in France, Renault will even dedicate a new company to the sector, The Future Is Neutral, which aims to become a European leader in the automotive circular economy, serving not only other car brands but also the entire industrial sector.
Today, as recalled by the diamond brand during the presentation event, a new vehicle contains only between 20 and 30% recycled materials from all sectors, while Renault's goal is to reach 3 million tons of recycled steel (1.8 in 2021) sixfolding the amount of plastic and copper recovered, tripling that of platinum, palladium and rhodium and reaching (starting from 2024) 4,500 tons of recycled materials from electric car batteries.
To do this, The Future Is Neutral is opening a minority of its capital to external investors with the aim of co-financing investments of approximately 500 million euros until 2030.
THE WHO MANAGES TO RECOVER THE MOST RARE EARTHS (NOT ONLY FROM THE UNDERGROUND) WINS!
As for electric vehicles, the number of which is expected to rise from 10 million in 2020 to over 100 million by 2030 worldwide, Groupe Renault together with Veolia, a company specializing in optimized resource management, and Solvay, a player in the chemical advanced and scientific innovation, had already announced a collaboration to recycle the metals of electric batteries.
The goal is to establish a secure and sustainable source of supply of strategic metals for batteries (cobalt, nickel, lithium), enhancing their respective skills at each stage of the value chain (collection of end-of-life batteries, dismantling, extraction and metal purification), improving battery recycling processes.
The strategic metals derived from the end-of-life batteries of electric vehicles will be extracted, purified and transformed into high-purity materials ready to be reused for the production of new batteries. While these metals were once recovered in a form intended solely for metallurgical applications, the new closed-loop process should help reduce the environmental footprint of future electric vehicle batteries.
The three partners are already actively engaged in an experimental phase which involves the construction of a pilot plant in France, on a pre-industrial scale, capable of extracting and purifying the metals contained in end-of-life batteries. A confirmation of Renault's commitment to protecting the environment.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/per-il-riciclo-dei-veicoli-stellantis-sceglie-la-francia-che-strano/ on Tue, 06 Jun 2023 13:39:55 +0000.