BMW has demonstrated that far more material from end-of-life vehicles could potentially return to automotive production than is possible through conventional recycling processes today. Through its Car2Car research project, BMW Group and its partners increased the company’s defined “Car2Car rate” from 6% to 51% under advanced processing and sorting conditions.
What BMW’s Car2Car Rate Means
The 51% figure does not mean that only 51% of a vehicle can technically be recycled. BMW uses the Car2Car rate more narrowly to describe the share of materials recovered from an end-of-life vehicle at a quality level high enough to be reused in new automotive applications.
The Car2Car research project examined steel, aluminum, copper, plastics and glass from scrapped vehicles and explored how those materials could be returned to automotive production.
Under processes closer to those commonly used today, the overall Car2Car rate reached just 6%. Researchers increased that figure to 51% by using more advanced sorting, processing and separation methods.
Steel Delivers the Biggest Improvement
The results varied significantly by material. BMW says the Car2Car rate for steel increased from 1% to 81%, while aluminum improved from 23% to 52% and copper rose from 48% to 68%.
Plastics and glass remained considerably more difficult to return to the automotive supply chain at the quality levels required for new vehicles.
The improved results required more than sending old vehicles through a conventional shredder. The project examined improved pre-sorting, modified shredding processes, sensor-based material sorting, classification and more precise separation of different aluminum alloys.
How BMW Improved Recycled Steel
Steel demonstrated why additional processing can make a significant difference. Scrap steel recovered from old vehicles can contain copper from wiring, connectors and other components. That contamination can prevent the resulting material from meeting the standards required for high-quality automotive sheet steel.
The Car2Car project introduced another sorting step to reduce those copper impurities. BMW says the resulting scrap could then be used to produce flat steel suitable for modern automotive applications.
BMW also filed a patent based on the findings and integrated the results into its production processes.
More Than 100,000 BMW Parts Made From Recovered Steel
Following testing of the recycled steel, BMW incorporated material produced through the project into a manufacturing trial at Plant Leipzig. More than 100,000 series-production components were manufactured and installed in vehicles using the process.
Some of those components might have gone into the new i3 sedan, which touts composition of 30% recycled materials. The recovered materials came from 433 vehicles representing 60 different BMW Group models classified as “end of life.”
BMW says the project achieved its results without requiring significantly more vehicle dismantling than the compulsory disassembly already performed before recycling.
Scaling the Process Remains a Challenge
The 51% Car2Car rate was achieved under optimized research and demonstration conditions rather than through processes that are universally available at recycling facilities today.
Scaling the methods would require additional investment in dismantling, sorting, processing equipment and infrastructure. Plastics and glass remain particularly challenging because modern vehicles use numerous plastic formulations and composite structures, making their separation and reuse more complicated than recycling metals.
BMW says additional sorting and processing technologies will be needed before those materials can consistently meet automotive quality standards. The company has also made progress in other challenging areas, including EV batteries, although that responsibility falls more squarely to the Recycling and Dismantling Center.
BMW Looks to Design Cars for Recycling
The Car2Car project is also providing BMW with data that can be used when designing future vehicles with recycling in mind. Its findings will feed into the company’s existing “Design for Circularity” work.
That effort aims to consider how vehicle materials can ultimately be recovered and reused before a car even enters production, building on the recycling and material-recovery findings demonstrated through the Car2Car project.
