Altilium to produce battery cells from end-of-life EV batteries
Clean technology group Altilium has announced a project to produce and validate EV battery cells using materials recovered from end-of-life EV batteries.
The project will demonstrate battery cells produced with recovered cathode active materials (CAM), which will be validated for use in vehicles with JLR at the OEM’s facilities. It is supported by the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK through the latest round of its Advanced Route to Market Demonstrator (ARMD) competition.
Altilium will use its EcoCathode process to deliver carbon reductions through recovering critical materials including lithium, cobalt and nickel. It hopes the process reduces the need for newly-mined materials, improving circularity in the production of EVs, and a 60% reduction in carbon emissions.
Production of the cells is planned at the country’s national battery manufacturing scale-up facility, the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC), using recovered battery materials produced by Altilium at its commercial ACT2 facility, as well as its ACT1 pilot – both in Devon.
Dr Christian Marston, Altilium COO, said:
“By demonstrating that EV battery cells made from recovered materials can meet the rigorous standards of the automotive industry, we’re not only reducing the environmental impact of battery production but also supporting the UK’s efforts to build a more sustainable and resilient EV supply chain.
“This project is a vital milestone in our mission to decarbonize the battery value chain and support automotive OEMs in achieving their regulatory and sustainability goals.”
The project builds on Altilium’s previously announced partnership with UKBIC, supported by Innovate UK’s Faraday Battery Challenge, to begin prototyping of EV battery cells using recycled CAM.
Sean Gilgunn, Managing Director of UKBIC, said:
“Our role in the battery ecosystem is to help companies prove their new materials and technologies can be industrialised, and working with Altilium will help them prove their recycled CAM can be an effective option in future EV batteries.”
Altilium’s planned Teesside hub will be one of the UK’s largest integrated battery recycling facility, capable of processing 150,000 EV batteries annually, and supplying 30,000tpa of CAM back into the UK’s growing gigafactory complex.
Image courtesy of Altilium