Clean tech firm Altilium is partnering on a Nissan-led project to improve the sustainability of electric vehicle (EV) batteries manufactured in the UK.
The scheme will see advanced recycling technologies used to lower the carbon footprint of new batteries and reduce reliance on imported raw materials.
The work is part of a £30m collaborative project announced by the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC), which has been awarded grant funding of £15m.
It aims to strengthen the technical expertise and R&D capability of the Nissan Technical Centre Europe (NTCE) in Cranfield, Bedfordshire, focusing on the development and advancement of EV battery reuse, recycling and energy balancing technology.
The consortium also includes battery producer AESC, a long-standing partner of Nissan, and Connected Energy, a leading provider of second-life battery energy storage solutions in the UK.
Building on Altilium’s development of proprietary green processing technologies, the two companies will work together to maximise the potential for raw material recycling and develop a “closed-loop” model for battery materials. This will include processing waste from spent Nissan Leaf batteries and production scrap and then upcycling these materials to produce high nickel chemistry cathode active materials (CAM) for testing in the next generation of EV batteries.
Altilium’s full battery circularity model encompasses zero carbon EV battery collection, black mass recycling and chemical refining to produce 30,000 MT of battery-ready CAM, enough to meet 20% of the UK requirement by 2030.
Dr Christian Marston, co-founder and COO of Altlium, said: “Together, we are leveraging our strengths and resources to revolutionise how we manage and repurpose EV batteries, ensuring the UK has a domestic and sustainable source of battery materials for low carbon transportation.”
Image courtesy of Altilium.
