Toyota advances ‘Battery 3R’ initiatives for circular economy

MANILA: Toyota Motor Corporation is supporting initiatives that center on the development of a circular economy, including a circular ecosystem for the batteries used in its vehicles, as electrified vehicles become more prevalent.

The Japanese carmaker follows the “Battery 3R” in its path of circularity. It enhances its global efforts towards the three “R’s” — Reduce, Rebuild/Reuse, and Recycle — in partnership with various organizations. Toyota’s goal for these initiatives is to not only advance car development but to also benefit local communities.

For its “Reduce” initiatives, the company is creating batteries of the future with new chemistries and innovative structural designs. Toyota is growing its range of batteries to give customers more options, ranging from affordable batteries to cutting-edge batteries that aim for even greater performance. Examples of these developments include implementing bipolar structures for hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) and battery electric vehicles (BEV) and further increasing the energy density of liquid lithium-ion batteries.

Toyota is also striving to further improve its BEV models, like the bZ4X, by improving the battery warm-up performance in cold weather to shorten the charging time in low ambient temperatures and reducing power consumption and optimizing air-conditioning control to extend driving range.

Part of the company’s “Rebuilt and Reuse” initiatives is its partnership with Japanese power generation firm JERA Corporation for the development of a large-capacity sweep energy storage system using batteries of used electrified vehicles.

Toyota is also collaborating with Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Incorporated for the development of a stationary storage battery system, which currently undergoes a demonstration test.

The reusing of the nickel-metal hydride batteries from HEVs into stationary batteries is also part of the carmaker's “Rebuild and Reuse” and “Recycle” initiatives.

Toyota has also extended its recycling agreement with battery recycler Redwood Materials with the goal of creating pathways for car batteries used in electrified vehicles that have reached the end of their first life. Toyota also entered into an additional agreement to source cathode active material and anode copper foil from Redwood’s recycling operations.

Photos from Toyota

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