The expert committees meet weekly and have been doing so for over a year. However, it seems questionable whether the solution will grow as quickly as the battery problem mountain: the European Union has been working on a new battery regulation since 2019. The desired electromobility is forcing us to hurry, as the demand for lithium-ion batteries will multiply rapidly over the next few years.
The fact that rechargeable batteries are expensive - a 1,000 watt-hour block costs up to 2,000 euros - is also due to their valuable ingredients. Cobalt, lithium, nickel and manganese, as well as aluminium and copper, are used in electricity storage systems. Their extraction causes environmental damage and consumes a lot of energy, and their prices rise in line with demand. The Battery Act already stipulates that old batteries must be taken back and at least half of them recycled, but this quota only applies to the pure mass. As long as prices are low enough, only easily recoverable materials such as aluminium are recycled. In future, the aim will be to recycle problematic materials as well - with ever stricter requirements: In a few years, 95 per cent of cobalt, nickel and copper are to be recovered, and 70 per cent of lithium. Virginijus Sinkevičius, the EU Commissioner for the Environment, dug even deeper into the sustainability box and announced the goal of extracting all raw materials in a socially and ecologically responsible manner and using clean energy for production.
However, pedelec batteries will probably escape such far-reaching regulations through a loophole: Batteries with less than two kilowatt hours are exempt from these quotas. A normal pedelec battery has only a quarter of this (and the starter batteries for cars, which are increasingly being designed as lithium batteries, are also smaller ...). Of course, the existing recycling obligation and take-back by dealers still applies. But more sustainability looks different.
"From an environmental perspective, we are also clearly in favour of making individual battery cells non-destructively replaceable instead of gluing everything together inseparably."
The Federal Environment Agency, which also advises political decision-makers, could have imagined more. Falk Petrikowski, whose department deals with battery issues, expresses two ideas that could improve the eco-balance even without the increased recycling quotas. It's about the repair-friendly design of batteries: "From an environmental point of view, we are also clearly in favour of making individual battery cells non-destructively replaceable instead of gluing everything together inseparably." Petrikowski admits that manufacturers could argue with some justification that specifications of this kind would restrict innovation opportunities - our mobile phones, for example, would probably not have become as light and flat as they are today with this specification. "Ultimately, however, it remains a political consideration as to which need should be prioritised."
The second problem child of the bicycle industry is carbon fibre
It is clear that carbon can make our bikes lighter. In part 1 of our series (MYBIKE 5/2021), we explained that its production is much more energy-intensive than that of metals. The significantly better energy balance of metals is also due to their good recycling rate: it is said that 75 percent of the aluminium ever produced is still in use today. With appropriate sorting, over 90 per cent of it is recycled, saving 95 per cent of the energy it requires as a "new" raw material.
Carbon, on the other hand, is hazardous waste - with major problems: Fibre particles are suspected of causing damage to health. The carbon fibres are also practically impossible to incinerate, as no waste incineration plant can reach the necessary temperatures of well over 1,000 degrees. And simple landfilling is prohibited.
What we call carbon in the bicycle sector is not just carbon fibre, but a composite material made up of several components. The most valuable of these are the fibres made of pure carbon. They resist recycling for several reasons: In lightweight components, the fibres are fixed in a matrix of non-meltable plastics. During recycling, this synthetic resin matrix currently has to be vaporised, so to speak, using enormous amounts of energy and under very controlled conditions in order to extract the pure fibres. However, these fibres are much shorter than they would be needed for high-quality products, as carbon frames are made from tiny pieces that are laminated together. In addition, pure carbon cannot be melted down. A short fibre never becomes a long one again. Over 3,000 tonnes of carbon-reinforced plastic are currently produced in Germany every year - and the trend is rising sharply. So what to do with the growing mountain of problem waste? Rotwild designer Lutz Scheffer is also relying on the power of innovation here: "Thousands of tonnes of rotor blades are currently coming our way from the first generation of wind turbines alone, so there is enormous pressure to act. That's why carbon recycling processes will improve quickly."
Dohrmann is an original rock of the bicycle industry. He has accompanied the development from steel to aluminium to carbon from the very beginning. At Stevens, he is responsible for strategy, product and marketing.
"CARBON IS MUCH MORE DURABLE THAN INITIALLY FEARED AND IS THEREFORE MOSTLY STILL IN USE."
MYBIKE: Stevens started recycling CFRP parts and frames that were no longer usable back in 2010. How did this come about?
We have an aviation campus relatively close by in Hamburg, in Stade. The relevant companies there are very close to the issue. As carbon scrap cannot be disposed of with household waste, we have taken this route. We give our dealers the opportunity to return their carbon scrap to us
How much carbon scrap is produced?
So far, certainly less than five per cent of what leaves our house. Carbon is much more durable than initially feared and is therefore mostly still in use. And not everything comes back to us. These are mainly destroyed frames that have been involved in accidents, crash replacements or warranties.
Is waste carbon a sought-after raw material?
Not really. I think it will cost us nothing. The company uses various tricks to dismantle the laminate and can resell the carbon residue as a raw material. But not for high-quality applications, only for technically weaker products.
Today's top bikes are light, comfortable and beautiful - but difficult to repair and therefore short-lived. Lutz Scheffer has been developing high-end bikes for over 25 years. He takes a positive view of technical progress.
"IT'S NOT ABOUT PAST AND PRESENT, BUT ABOUT GOOD AND BAD."
MYBIKE: 20 years ago, you could easily put your bike together yourself. Today's high-end bikes are almost as complicated as a car. Who is supposed to repair them?
Of course, repairs become more difficult for the end customer as integration increases. But it's not just the problems that are growing, the solutions are also increasing! If my bike dealer can no longer supply a six-speed crankset for my 30-year-old bike, I'll order it somewhere on the internet. And if the repair has become more difficult due to internally routed cables, for example, I'll definitely find an online video showing me the solution.
Isn't the technology of a modern e-bike automatically more prone to defects than the good old mechanics?
You have to look after every bike, nothing lasts forever. But of course, an e-MTB has a lot of wear and tear on the drive components due to the high forces. On the other hand, things like wireless shifting are also developing, which saves me all the hassle of shifting cables. And it's often the tiny details that make a good bike repairable: no crumbling plastic parts, high-quality bolts, precise connections. It's not about past and present, but about good or bad.
