With the project “Material Loop” by Audi takes the next step in defining the life cycle of more materials in the automotive industry as it looks at material reuse. These are removed from customers’ vehicles at the end of their life cycle and put forward by the company in the production of new cars.

To date, very few of the materials used in the production of new vehicles are recovered from old cars. Steel, for example, usually ends up as industrial steel in the construction industry after end-of-life vehicles are recycled. THE Audi wants to change that by reusing secondary materials from end-of-life vehicles back into the production of new cars.

In October 2022 for example 100 Audi vehicles, including among others former development cars, were dismantled as part of the joint “Material Loop” project. Targeted disassembly of individual components allowed high-quality secondary materials to be retained, such as larger plastic pieces for example, to be promoted for recycling. After dismantling, what was left of the car bodies were cut up and sorted into material groups consisting of steel, aluminium, plastic and glass, in collaboration with the companies involved in the project.

In addition to the ability to return materials to the supply chain, the focus is also on improving capacity recycling of the materials in the German company’s future vehicles.