Automotive end-of-life data exchange for circular economy

Project runtime: 01.07.2025 - 30.06.2026

Motivation

Data exchange in the automotive industry is often limited to bilateral relationships. However, given the requirements of the circular economy, cross-company material data exchange along the entire supply chain is necessary. The growing demand for sustainable products requires OEMs, suppliers and recyclers to develop recyclable designs and processes, which is why digital exchange of material data is crucial.

Objectives and approach

The companies participating in the EDCar project consortium cover the entire supply chain. The objective of data exchange is addressed in two key use cases:

End-of-life assessment of vehicle components to optimise dismantling and selection of the R strategy (reuse, refurbishment, recycling).
Feedback to the design of vehicles and vehicle components based on circular data.

Innovations and perspectives

Linking the Catena-X and MaterialDigital platform data ecosystems enables the seamless exchange of material information. This improves data consistency and availability, increases efficiency and transparency in the supply chain with regard to circularity, and opens up new digital business models for the participating companies.

Tasks within the project	Location
BASF Speedboat 1 – Development of the R-Strategy Assistant to assess which components are suitable for material-related recycling at the end of their lifecycle. (Role – Recycler); Speedboat 2 – Support for component requirements at the material level and simulation of the planned R-strategies within the value creation system. (Role – Material Manufacturer)	Ludwigshafen am Rhein
BMW Group Development of a bidirectional data supply structure for optimizing the utilization of development processes and material data flows in the automotive value chain	München
Fraunhofer-Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM Mapping and interface development for PMD-compliant data provision within the Catena-X data ecosystem	Freiburg
Fraunhofer-Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology Catena-X-compliant data models and circularity reference implementation	Berlin
light ds GmbH IT perspective on vehicle recycling – focus on IT solutions for optimizing vehicle recycling and dismantling	Hürth
LRP-Autorecycling Leipzig GmbH Disassembly and reuse – strategies for the efficient dismantling and reutilization of vehicle components	Krostitz
Robert Bosch GmbH Optimizing end-of-life assessments and the engineering of vehicle components through the digitalization of material data	Stuttgart
Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG Component perspective – digital support of the circular economy through data transparency from material to component	Schweinfurt
tec4U-Soloutions GmbH Development of a system for visualizing the disassembly process and the circularity of products by integrating different data ecosystems	Saarbrücken