BMW Has Clever Plans For Its EV Batteries

This isn’t all on BMW either. Chinese policy dictates that batteries must be tracked throughout their lifecycle. That, of course, includes what happens to them at the end of their lifecycle. BMW tracks every single battery they have, from development mules to cars currently in production. In China, that includes an electrified X3 SUV.

One of two things happens once a battery leaves the car it called home. Either A) the battery is reused, or B) it is recycled. The reuse, at least one instance thereof, comes in the form of forklifts in BMW factories. If the batteries can’t be used to power other vehicles, raw materials like cobalt, nickel, and lithium are pulled out and used to make more batteries for more cars. Right now, BMW says most of these batteries are coming out of test vehicles, as current production models just aren’t old enough to donate their batteries just yet. That will, however, change as vehicles like the iX age.