Eco-Innovation for Recycling/Remanufacturing Electric Vehicle Engines

Abstract

Because of climate changes and the increasing cost of raw materials, the mobility will become more and more electric in the future years. It is already the case for automotive and the first electric car from Renault company, “Renault Zoé” appeared in 2009. So the first models are now reaching their End-Of-Life and it is time to consider their dismantling. The traditional recycling industry used for Internal Combustion Engine vehicles is not adapted to electric vehicle powertrains. This study deals with the disassembly of 2 electric powertrains of Renault Zoé vehicle. All the components have been separated, identified, their chemical composition has been determined as well as their potential recyclability. We have highlighted that sometimes, some materials should be substituted by more recyclable others and that some subsets should be redesigned in order to facilitate the disassembly. A strategy to maximize the gain, reduce wastes has been built and some recommendations for the future design of these electric powertrains has been proposed.