Tesla Launches Battery Recycling Program Throughout Europe

MAIDENHEAD, England, January 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

- Unique Eco-Friendly Approach Recovers Important Metals and Reduces Carbon Footprint

Tesla Motors (http://www.teslamotors.com/) has launched a comprehensive strategy to recycle its industry-leading battery packs throughout Europe.

At the end of their long life, Tesla will recycle its battery packs at Umicore's UHT facility in Belgium. The Brussels-based materials technology company will use the expended pack material to produce an alloy that will be further refined into cobalt, nickel and other metals.

After that, Umicore (http://www.umicore.com/en/) will transform the cobalt into high grade lithium cobalt oxide, which can be resold to battery manufacturers. One of the few byproducts of their environmentally-friendly approach is a clean inertized slag containing calcium oxides and lithium. The slag goes into the production of special grades concretes.

Umicore's battery recycling technology allows to save a minimum of 70 percent on CO2 emissions at the recovery and refining of these valuable metals. So it can substantially reduce the carbon footprint for the manufacturing of Lithium-Ion batteries.

"While we work to help lessen global dependence on petroleum-based transportation and drive down the cost of electric vehicles, we are also taking the lead in developing a closed loop battery recycling system," Tesla's Director of Energy Storage Systems Kurt Kelty wrote in a new blog about the process http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/teslas-closed-loop-battery-recycling-program.

Tesla has been building and selling highway-capable, fully-certified electric cars for three years, during which time the Silicon Valley-based company has championed recycling and use of non-toxic materials (http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/mythbusters-part-3-recycling-our-non-toxic-b attery-packs). Tesla customers do not pay extra for recycling of the battery pack, which is expected to last 7-10 years or about 160,000 kilometers under normal use.

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Tesla's goal is to produce increasingly affordable electric cars to mainstream buyers - relentlessly driving down the cost of EVs. Based in California's Silicon Valley, Tesla has delivered more than 1,500 Roadsters to customers in at least 30 countries in Europe, North America and Asia. Tesla designs, develops, manufactures and sells EVs and EV powertrain components. The Tesla Roadster accelerates faster than most sports cars yet produces no emissions.

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    Contact:

    Sarah Zimmermann
    Szimmermann@teslamotors.com
    +49(0)1511-6159991