Aluminum is becoming an increasingly important decarbonization target for electric vehicle manufacturers because its production is energy intensive and the metal is used extensively in lightweight vehicle structures and battery related components. Mercedes Benz and Norwegian aluminum producer Hydro are now expanding their partnership to increase the use of recycled and low carbon aluminum across the automaker’s European supply chain, with the first step involving Hydro’s Hydro CIRCAL material in series production of Mercedes Benz’s next generation of large electric vehicles.
The shift is significant because the new material contains at least 75 percent post consumer recycled aluminum, compared with around 25 percent in the material Mercedes Benz currently sources from Hydro. The recycled content comes from aluminum recovered from end of life vehicles, buildings, infrastructure, and other post consumer sources before being processed for new automotive applications.
The move illustrates a more complex strategy for reducing automotive supply chain emissions. Rather than relying exclusively on lower carbon primary aluminum, Mercedes Benz is combining greater use of secondary material with aluminum produced using renewable electricity. The approach addresses two different emissions sources: the energy intensity of primary aluminum production and the demand for virgin raw materials.
Hydro says recycling aluminum requires only around 5 percent of the energy needed to produce primary aluminum through electrolysis, making secondary production an important lever for reducing the industry’s energy and emissions footprint. Its Hydro CIRCAL product contains at least 75 percent post consumer scrap and has a documented carbon footprint of 1.9 kilograms of CO₂ equivalent per kilogram of aluminum in Europe, according to Hydro.
The challenge is scaling recycled content without compromising the material specifications required for automotive applications. Aluminum alloys used in vehicle structures must meet demanding requirements for strength, durability, safety, and corrosion resistance. Increasing post consumer content therefore requires precise sorting, processing, and alloy management rather than simply increasing the quantity of scrap in the production mix.
Hydro itself identifies alloy requirements as one of the central challenges associated with higher recycled content. Its recycling operations use controlled mixtures of different scrap qualities to achieve the specifications required by customers. The company has therefore incorporated alloy research and technical development into its partnerships with automotive manufacturers.
Mercedes Benz has already been using lower carbon aluminum from Hydro in series production. Since 2023, the automaker has sourced aluminum containing at least 25 percent post consumer recycled material for selected structural components. The material has been used in models including the EQS, EQE, S Class, E Class, GLC, and C Class.
The expanded partnership also covers Hydro REDUXA, the company’s low carbon primary aluminum produced using renewable electricity. Mercedes Benz says the material has a carbon footprint more than 70 percent below the global average cited by the companies. Hydro’s current product range includes REDUXA aluminum with documented carbon footprints below 3 kilograms of CO₂ equivalent per kilogram of aluminum, depending on the production configuration and recycled content.
This combination is important because recycling alone cannot supply all automotive aluminum requirements. Primary aluminum remains necessary to compensate for material losses and to maintain the alloy composition required for specific applications. A credible decarbonization strategy therefore depends on reducing the carbon intensity of both primary and secondary supply while increasing the proportion of recycled material over time.
The approach is already visible in Mercedes Benz’s broader electric vehicle strategy. In its environmental assessment of the new electric C Class, the company said approximately two thirds of the model’s aluminum requirement is sourced from aluminum produced with renewable electricity or containing increased recycled content. The independently verified assessment also found that the vehicle’s lifecycle carbon footprint is approximately two thirds lower than that of the current combustion engine C Class.
Mercedes Benz has set a target of reducing CO₂ emissions from production by 80 percent by 2030, while aiming for materials procured by Mercedes Benz Cars and Mercedes Benz Vans to be net carbon neutral by 2039. The company’s longer term aluminum strategy is therefore increasingly focused on both emissions intensity and circularity.
The economics of the transition will be as important as the technical performance. Recycled aluminum can reduce energy requirements substantially, but the availability of high quality post consumer scrap, collection systems, sorting infrastructure, and suitable automotive alloys can constrain supply. At the same time, low carbon primary aluminum depends on access to renewable electricity and production facilities capable of maintaining consistent material quality at industrial scale.
The Mercedes Benz and Hydro agreement consequently points toward a broader restructuring of automotive material procurement. Instead of treating recycling and low carbon primary production as separate strategies, automakers are increasingly combining the two within long term supplier relationships. For electric vehicles, where aluminum demand is supported by the need for lightweight structures and battery enclosures, the ability to secure traceable, lower carbon material could become an increasingly important part of supply chain competitiveness.
Hydro and Mercedes Benz first established their low carbon aluminum technology roadmap in 2022, covering the period through 2030, before expanding the collaboration across the aluminum value chain in 2024. The latest agreement moves that cooperation further into series production, testing whether higher recycled content and renewable powered primary aluminum can be integrated at automotive scale while meeting stringent material requirements.
