General Motors incorporates recycled battery materials into customer vehicles
General Motors has for the first time built mass-produced vehicles using battery cells whose cathode active material is entirely made from recycled nickel, cobalt, and manganese. The raw materials come from used batteries in GM vehicles and were recovered and processed by partner Cirba Solutions.
Assembly of battery with recycled cathode material
Image: General Motors
General Motors has completed a pilot project for a closed-loop recycling system for electric vehicle batteries in collaboration with recycling company Cirba Solutions and other partners. Used batteries from the U.S.-based automaker’s Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC brands were recycled, and the recovered raw materials were then reused to manufacture new battery cells. What’s special is that the cathode active material (CAM) in these new cells is 100 percent made from recycled nickel, cobalt, and manganese. The first electric vehicles equipped with these batteries have already left GM’s factories — and they are not just internal test vehicles for validation, but regular electric cars for customers.
According to General Motors, for the pilot project, 80 used high-voltage batteries were initially collected and processed by Cirba Solutions at a recycling facility in Ohio, USA. After mechanical processing, so-called black mass was produced, which was then further processed to separate its constituent raw materials. This resulted in over twelve tons of new cathode active material. For nickel, cobalt, and manganese, this material was entirely made from recycled content. Before it could be used in new battery cells, it had to meet the same quality, performance, and safety standards as material derived from primary raw materials.
General Motors Uses the Material in Production Vehicles
The production of the new cells was handled by Ultium Cells, GM’s battery joint venture with LG Energy Solution. The cells were then assembled into battery modules and packs at GM’s Factory ZERO and Spring Hill plants. According to General Motors, the first vehicles equipped with these recycled cells include the Cadillac Lyriq, Lyriq-V, Vistiq, Escalade IQ, and Escalade IQL, as well as the Chevrolet Silverado EV Trail Boss and the GMC Sierra EV AT4. GM emphasizes that the cells performed comparably to those made from new raw materials during testing.
GM views the pilot project as a test for a future growing source of raw materials. According to the company, current recycling methods can recover up to 95 percent of nickel, cobalt, and manganese, as well as up to 80 percent of lithium, depending on the process and cell chemistry. As the number of used electric vehicle batteries increases, the amount of secondary raw materials is expected to rise as well. GM adopts a multi-step approach: batteries should first be used in vehicles for as long as possible, then processed or used in stationary storage, and only recycled at the end of their lifecycle. For example, GM plans to work with Redwood Materials to use around 10,000 batteries from electric vehicles for stationary applications.
The closed-loop system is interesting not only from a sustainability perspective. Nickel, cobalt, and other battery raw materials are among the key cost and risk factors in cell production. If they are recovered after a battery’s lifespan ends and reused in cell manufacturing, this can reduce the need for newly mined raw materials over the long term and improve supply security. For American manufacturer General Motors, regional value creation is also important: the batteries are processed in North America, and the recovered materials are reintroduced into local cell and vehicle production.
Porsche follows a similar approach
A very similar pilot project was introduced just last week by Porsche in collaboration with the Aachen-based recycling company Cylib. There, battery cells were also produced for the first time whose cathode active material is 100 percent made from recycled raw materials. Unlike GM’s approach, Porsche’s method includes lithium in addition to nickel, cobalt, and manganese; the raw materials come from used high-voltage batteries from Porsche’s own vehicles. However, Porsche is currently testing the cells produced this way in test vehicles, as integration into customer vehicles has not yet taken place.
The key difference lies in the maturity level of the two projects: Porsche is still testing its recycling cells and aims to use the insights gained as a foundation for potential future use in series batteries. In contrast, General Motors has already incorporated recycling cells into battery packs of electric vehicles that leave the factory and are delivered to customers. Porsche also intends to close this loop eventually in series production: Used batteries sourced from German Porsche centers since May 2026 will be recycled together with Cylib, and the resulting raw materials are set to be available for new battery cells starting in 2028.