Webasto and cylib enter into a
sustainable partnership for the future
The top 100 automotive supplier and the recycling scale-up from Aachen will be working together. The cooperation turns today's used batteries into tomorrow's urgently needed raw materials.
Battery recycling © Jann Höfer Cylib
Stockdorf - March 25, 2025 - The growing number of used batteries due to the electrification of the automotive industry requires new solutions for their recycling. At the same time, the demand for materials such as lithium and graphite is increasing. Partnerships between automotive suppliers and recycling companies therefore play a central role when it comes to both meeting sustainability targets and ensuring the availability of raw materials.
Webasto and cylib have therefore signed a cooperation agreement. The agreement stipulates that the German recycling scale-up will collect and recycle used batteries and production waste from battery production at European sites of Webasto. The family-owned company from Stockdorf near Munich has been producing battery systems for cars and commercial vehicles, among other things, since 2019.
The cylib recycling process
cylib relies on efficient and environmentally friendly battery recycling. All materials, including lithium and graphite, are fully recovered. The process combines mechanical, thermal and hydrometallurgical methods. Thanks to the minimal use of chemicals, the carbon footprint is up to 30 percent lower than with conventional methods. An innovative, water-based process also ensures particularly sustainable recovery of valuable raw materials. Webasto and cylib have been working together since 2023, including on "Design for Recycling" projects.
"Our recycling technology recovers all valuable materials from spent lithium-ion batteries, including lithium and graphite. The partnership with Webasto is an important step towards scaling up battery recycling. Together, we are securing the raw materials of tomorrow and driving forward the circular economy in Europe," says cylib co-founder and COO Dr. Gideon Schwich.
"Collaborations like the one between Webasto and cylib are in the interest of the entire European automotive industry, because they make the local raw material ecosystem more sustainable and resilient - ultimately benefiting everyone, right down to the end consumer," says Marcel Bartling, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Webasto.
Influence of the EU Battery Regulation
The EU Battery Regulation sets strict requirements for the sustainability and traceability of batteries. It stipulates that at least 70 percent of lithium and 95 percent of cobalt, nickel and copper must be recovered from used batteries by 2030. The recycling process from cylib already exceeds these requirements today and ensures that Webasto meets the future legal requirements.
Webasto is also working intensively on the use of used batteries as a storage medium for a sustainable energy supply in production. A battery storage system with a capacity of one megawatt hour (MWh) went into operation at the Schierling plant in Bavaria in 2024. It uses 30 used batteries, most of which come from pre-series production, to store solar power generated in-house.
