Nova Bus teams up with Lithion for battery recycling
Under the newly signed collaboration, end-of-life batteries from old Nova Bus buses in Canada will be collected, transported, and recycled by Lithion at its Saint-Bruno facility. The batteries recycled by Lithion Technologies will have completed all their life cycles based on various uses, “such as energy storage systems or residential electrification, post electrical propulsion.” Lithion further writes that the process will “represent a step towards closing the loop in the circular economy for these batteries, which will no longer be capable of storing electricity.”
According to Lithion, its recycling technologies enable the recovery of up to 98% of the critical minerals found in bus batteries destined for recycling. By doing so, Nova Bus will reduce the industry’s need for virgin materials, support a circular economy, and repurpose strategic and critical materials. Ultimately, this multi-year collaboration aims to enhance sustainability in the hybrid and electric urban bus industry
“I am very excited about this partnership because it represents the full potential of companies with complementary expertise dedicating their efforts to improving the environmental footprint of their products. Recycling is a crucial step in the value chain of batteries,” said Paul Le Houillier, President of Nova Bus.
“This agreement confirms the critical role of recycling in the transition towards truly sustainable transportation. The prospect of making public transit even more environmentally responsible is truly exciting. Through strategic partnerships like Nova Bus, we can envision achieving full circularity of battery materials right here in Quebec,” added Benoit Couture, President and CEO of Lithion.
Lithion has multiple major ongoing partnerships with vehicle manufacturers to secure a steady supply of used batteries, having announced a collaboration with Hyundai as recently as October. This project followed a three-year validation project, and now has bundled the capacities from over 250 Hyundai and Genesis dealers in Canada to supply Lithion with used batteries.
Nova Bus should have sufficient batteries in Canada to provide, having signed a deal with Canadian public transport operators Durham Region Transit, as well as BC Transit and OC Transpo and the city of Regina in 2024 alone.
0 Comments