Toyota extends its hybrid battery recycling process

Japanese auto giant Toyota has revealed its plans of collecting and recycling 100 per cent of old hybrid batteries used in all its vehicles plying on the streets of Europe. The hybrid batteries used in Toyota and its sister brand Lexus models can last longer than the vehicles themselves which means they are only recovered when the cars reach the end of their lifecycle, or if they have been involved in an accident.

According to Toyota, it already has a battery collection rate of more than 90 per cent, but is now widening its strategy and targeting a 100 per cent result. The brand has now set itself the challenge to increase this figure to 100 per cent, through its own network and any authorised end-of-life vehicle treatment operators.

Used hybrid batteries are mainly destined for recycling, but Toyota says it has started to research options for the remanufacture of NiMh (nickel-metal hydride batteries), potentially giving them a second life as a vehicle or a stationary energy source. Stationary batteries can potentially store surplus renewable energy for instance as an emergency back-up.