During London Climate Action Week, CATL and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation discussed their goal of transitioning to a circular battery economy by decoupling new battery production from the use of virgin raw materials. This approach aims to achieve meaningful sustainability and growth without relying on the extraction of critical materials used in battery production. Both entities that forged a strategic partnership earlier in the year have been working on applying circular economy principl...

Forvia’s sustainable materials subsidiary, Materi'act, has unveiled NAFILean Vision, a groundbreaking advancement in sustainable biocomposites for injection technology in the automotive industry. Building on the success of NAFILean-R, a recyclable biocomposite made from recycled plastics reinforced with 20% hemp fibers, this new material family not only meets stringent performance standards but also enhances aesthetic quality by making biomass visible, setting a new benchmark for eco-frie...

The Salzgitter Group is expanding its strategic partnership with one of its key customers, Volvo Cars. Starting in 2026, significant amounts of steel scrap from the Swedish carmaker’s body parts plant in Olofström, southern Sweden, will be sold to the Germany-based steelmaker. Salzgitter provides high-quality flat steel to Volvo Cars’ plant. The company will also start acquiring substantial quantities of the steel scrap produced there. This scrap will b...

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL) plans to foster global collaboration and support emerging economies. Speaking at the second Belt and Road Conference on Science and Technology Exchange, Robin Zeng, chairman and CEO of CATL, highlighted the company's readiness to pursue industrial cooperation and share advanced technologies to promote global energy transition. CATL's strategy includes building factories, forming joint ventures and licensing technology to support partners ...

LG Energy Solution and Toyota Tsusho Corp. have announced the formation of Green Metals Battery Innovations LLC, a joint venture focused on battery recycling. The JV plans to construct a preprocessing facility in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, aimed at extracting black mass, a crucial material for battery recycling, from battery production scrap. The facility is set to begin operations in 2026 and intends to handle up to 13,500 metric tons of scrap annually, which is equivalent to over 40,000 au...

The European Council has adopted a position on the end-of-life vehicles (ELV) regulation, aiming to ensure that new vehicles are designed to support reuse, recycling and recovery. This includes setting a mandatory target for recycled plastics and the potential for future targets for recycled steel, aluminum and other critical raw materials. The regulation's scope has expanded to include trucks, motorbikes and quadricycles, requiring their design to allow part removal. Producers must esta...

Altilium, a UK-based clean technology group, announced its plans for a £30 million investment in a new electric vehicle battery recycling facility in Plymouth, UK, known as the ACT 3 scale-up plant. This investment aims to enhance Plymouth's role in the UK's clean energy transition and is a crucial step in Altilium's goal to create a domestic circular economy for critical minerals needed for the nation's net-zero objectives. The facility should be operational by late 2026 and will create ove...

Volvo Cars has entered into a new sourcing agreement with the Sweden-based steel company SSAB for the supply of high-quality, recycled and near-zero emissions steel, beginning 2025. The agreement makes Volvo Cars the first car manufacturer to secure a supply agreement with SSAB for recycled, near-zero emissions steel intended for serial production. This agreement extends a long-term collaboration aimed at promoting sustainable steel. Volvo Cars is also advancing its circular sustainability go...

Cyclic Materials, an advanced recycling company, has announced a $25 million investment to establish North America's first Centre of Excellence for rare earth recycling in Kingston, Ontario. This facility, which covers over 140,000 square feet and will create 45 skilled jobs, will serve as the company's industrial and innovation hub, integrating commercial processing with research and development to tackle the challenge of sourcing rare earth elements for permanent magnets. The Kingston facil...

Continental is increasing the use of renewable and recycled materials in its tire production. The share of these sustainable materials was 26% in 2024, the Germany-based tiremaker said in a press release on June 5. Continental forecasts this share to increase by 2-3% in 2025. This growth is attributed to the use of synthetic rubber obtained from renewable or circular oil, polyester made from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET), recycled steel and innovative fillers, such ...

Tata Elxsi unveiled a technology demonstrator called Battery Aadhaar at the Battery Summit 2025 in Bangalore, India. Organized by the World Resources Institute (WRI) India, the summit was part of a consortium-led initiative aiming to support India's goals for sustainable mobility and circular energy systems. The initiative aligns with the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)-led program Electrifying Mobility in Cities, coordinated by NITI Aayog and the Department of Science & T...

BASF started the commercial operation of its black mass plant located in Schwarzheide, Germany, marking a significant milestone in its battery recycling business. This facility is among the largest of its kind in Europe, with the capacity to process up to 15,000 metric tons of end-of-life lithium-ion batteries and production scrap annually, equivalent to approximately 40,000 electric vehicle batteries each year. The operation of the black mass plant is a significant step forward for the ...

Canada-based rare earth elements (REEs) recycling company Cyclic Materials and micromobility service provider Lime have signed a strategic agreement to recycle magnets from retired electric motors in e-bikes and e-scooters across Canada and the US. The partnership between the two companies marks the first major recycling initiative of rare earth magnets in North America's micromobility sector. Cyclic plans to recover these materials from decommissioned motors in Lime's markets,...

The state of Maharashtra in India announced plans to boost the establishment of recycling centers for electric vehicle batteries and promote the production of new batteries and EVs, as part of the Electric Vehicle Policy 2025. The government resolution (GR) emphasizes the collection of used EV batteries from various facilities such as charging stations, battery-swapping centers and authorized dealers. Key locations identified for these recycling centers include the Mumbai Metropolitan Regio...

Borealis is investing over €100 million to expand its production capacity for Daploy High Melt Strength polypropylene (HMS PP) at its Burghausen facility in Germany. This innovative polymer foam solution aligns with the growing demand for recyclable, high-performance materials in various industries, such as consumer products, automotive, and building and construction. The new production line, set to commence operations in the second half of 2026, will triple the supply capability for fully rec...

JK Tyre & Industries Ltd. has commenced production of its new passenger car tire, the UX Royale Green, at its Chennai plant in Tamil Nadu, India, using renewable and recycled raw materials. This marks the debut of India's first passenger car tire made with ISCC Plus certified sustainable materials. The certification, a part of the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) framework, ensures the traceability of responsibly sourced inputs in the value chain. This initia...

Altilium Metals, a UK-based battery material recycling company, has announced initial test results for the industrial scale assembly of electric vehicle battery cells using recycled materials at the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC). The electrochemical testing demonstrated that the performance of these recycled cells is comparable to those made from conventional primary materials, indicating the viability of recycled cathodes as an alternative to mined metals. The trials showed no ...

Norwegian battery materials company Vianode has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Fortum Battery Recycling, a specialist in recycling valuable metals from electric vehicle batteries, to develop a sustainable EV battery recycling value chain, Vianode announced May 13. Under the agreement, the two companies plan to work together to secure supplies of high-quality recycled graphite concentrate from Fortum’s hydrometallurgical plant in Harjavalta, Finland; develop and optimize rec...

Nexen Tire has entered a long-term supply agreement with LD Carbon for sourcing recovered carbon black (rCB) for use in tire manufacturing. South Korea-based LD Carbon specializes in resource circulation and material recycling, and its rCB is produced by pyrolyzing end-of-life tires in an oxygen-free environment, significantly reducing carbon emissions and promoting sustainability. This partnership enables Nexen Tire to enhance its eco-friendly tire manufacturing by replacing petrol...

LG Energy Solution (LGES) and Derichebourg have announced plans to form a joint venture to build a battery recycling plant in Bruyères-sur-Oise, northern France. Construction is slated to begin in 2026, with operations starting in 2027. This facility will process battery scrap and end-of-life electric vehicle batteries, extracting black mass that contains key materials such as lithium, nickel and cobalt. The extracted materials will be reused in LGES' battery production, marking a ...

Cyclic Materials, an advanced recycling company focused on creating a circular supply chain for rare earth elements (REEs) and other critical materials, announced an investment of over $20 million in its first commercial facility in Mesa, Arizona, US. This state-of-the-art facility will be the company's first global REE recycling operation, using its proprietary MagCycle process to separate permanent magnets from end-of-life products that were previously not recovered. The facility is expecte...

Altilium Metals, a UK-based clean technology company, started construction of the country's first at-scale electric vehicle battery recycling facility with integrated chemical refining capabilities in Plymouth, Devon. This ACT 3 scale-up plant aims to position the UK as a leader in sustainable battery materials production, enhancing industrial resilience, energy security and economic growth. The facility will recover critical minerals such as lithium, nickel and graphite from 24,000 EVs ...

At the upcoming Auto Shanghai 2025, scheduled to be held from April 23 to May 2 in Shanghai, Valeo will present its innovations across four strategic areas of smart electrification, advanced driver assistance systems and user experience, lighting styling, and commitment to sustainable mobility. In the field of smart electrification, Valeo will present an ultracompact On-Board Charger and DC-DC Converter Combo ready for bidirectional charging; the Predict4Range software capable of boosting ran...

India is planning to introduce incentives for the recycling of 24 critical minerals, including key resources such as lithium and cobalt, by 2025, two sources aware of the matter said, according to a report by Reuters on April 8. This initiative is part of India's broader strategy to secure essential minerals critical for the country's transition to green energy and to meet its clean energy ambitions. These efforts are also in line with India's goal to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emis...

Continental has developed a sustainable key fob that uses 100% bioplastic for its outer casing. This innovation is part of Continental's broader commitment to environmental sustainability, following the company's internal adoption of a design for the environment procedure in 2021. This procedure helps in identifying opportunities for enhancing product sustainability and has steered Continental toward incorporating organic materials in its production processes. “Continental is committed...

Redwood Materials has made significant strides in the recycling and production of lithium-ion batteries, emphasizing its commitment to support the accelerating energy transition. Over the past year, the company has recycled lithium-ion batteries equivalent to about 250,000 electric vehicles, totaling over 20 GWh. Additionally, Redwood has inaugurated the first lithium source and nickel mine in the US in more than a decade and has started building what will be the country's first commercial catho...

Ecobat, a prominent battery recycling company, announced that it has added three advanced lithium-ion battery recycling facilities in the last 12 months. The three plants are located in Hettstedt, Germany; Casa Grande, Arizona; and Darlaston, England. These newly operational facilities collectively possess the capacity to process up to 10,000 metric tons of lithium-ion batteries per year, with an ambition to expand this capacity to 25,000 metric tons in the future. These plants are focused on...

Ricardo, a global strategic, environmental and engineering consulting company, has developed an innovative electric propulsion module named Alumotor, designed to address the environmental impact of materials used in electric motors, particularly focusing on sustainable mobility. This development was part of a consortium funded by Innovate UK and led by Ricardo. The Alumotor represents a significant move toward sustainability by being a rare earth metal-free synchronous reluctance motor, disti...

Japanese battery maker Panasonic Energy Company Ltd. has launched a recycling initiative for nickel used in the lithium-ion battery cathode materials in collaboration with Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd., a leading Japanese non-ferrous metal smelting and refining and cathode material manufacturer, Panasonic announced on March 31. The partnership between Panasonic and Sumitomo Metal Mining marks the first closed-loop recycling initiative, where end-of-life products can be reprocessed into raw ...

Vianode, a Norway-based advanced battery materials company, has launched its first high-performance solution based on recycled graphite as part of its next-generation material series, the company announced March 18. The innovative product is based on recycled battery-grade graphite and is designed to meet growing demand for sustainable electric vehicle and battery manufacturing, it said. According to Vianode, recycled graphite can enable North American and European battery and EV manufactu...

Nissan and Stena Recycling have forged a strategic partnership aimed at advancing the reuse of second-life electric vehicle batteries in Norway, a country with over 80,000 Nissan LEAFs on its roads. This collaboration seeks to establish a new value chain for batteries that are deemed unsuitable for vehicular use but still hold significant value. Leveraging Stena Recycling's expertise with Nissan's EV technology, this partnership is poised to create a circular business model that enhances the ...

Altilium Metals, a UK-based battery material recycling company, has achieved a significant breakthrough on using recycled battery materials for producing electric vehicle battery cells. In an announcement on March 17, the company said that the UK's first EV battery cells were produced using recycled cathode active materials (CAM) at the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) in Coventry. This development is seen as a crucial step toward establishing a circular economy for EV batteries in...

Novelis, a leader in flat-rolled aluminum products and the world's largest recycler of aluminum, has produced the first-ever aluminum coil made entirely from 100% recycled, end-of-life automotive scrap, the company said in a press release on March 13. This breakthrough product, designed for the European automotive market, represents a significant move toward sustainability and circularity in the automotive industry. The material, intended for car body outer skin applications, satisfies the indus...

The automotive industry is transforming as it faces sustainability pressures and must adapt to changing market dynamics. Recently, the focus on sustainability has intensified due to regulatory requirements, consumer demand for greener products and the urgent need to combat climate change. The S&P Global Mobility 2025 Supplier Outlook highlights the sustainability practices being adopted across the automotive supply chain. The growing pressure for sustainability Luz Mauch, executive vic...

As reported in a press release on March 5, Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corp. celebrated the completion of a new back-end production facility focused on automotive power semiconductors at Himeji Operations — Semiconductor, located in Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan. This development will significantly enhance the facility's production capacity for automotive power semiconductors, more than doubling the numbers seen in fiscal year 2022, with the commencement of full-scale product...

A number of industry players have come together to establish BeyondBattRec project, which will focus on developing innovative battery recycling technologies to promote a circular economy in Europe. According to a press note released by Acid GmbH on March 3, the BeyondBattRec consortium is led by Aalborg University in Denmark, along with 12 leading partners from seven countries, including Varta Microbattery GmbH, Siemens, Accurec Recycling GmbH, Andaltec, UVR-FIA GmbH, Shift Materials, Univers...

Altilium Metals Ltd., a UK-based battery recycling startup, has appointed David Cartwright as the new managing director in a move to strengthen the top leadership team, the company announced March 2. Cartwright brings with him the experience of serving the chemicals industry for four decades, steering complex chemical projects with extensive management background. According to Altilium, Cartwright is expected to play a pivotal role in driving the next phase of the company’s ambitious growth...

UK-based battery material recycling company Altilium Metals Ltd. has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Talga Group to supply recycled graphite for use in electric vehicle battery anode products, Altilium announced Feb. 27. Under the MOU framework, Altilium will supply Talga with up to 16,000 metric tons of recycled graphite over three years, commencing 2026. The collaboration between Altilium and Talga is also aligned with the EU’s sustainability goals and pol...

Munich-based battery material recycling startup Tozero has successfully completed a battery cell test using 100% recycled graphite at industrial scale, achieving a major breakthrough in Europe, the company announced Feb. 13. The startup claimed that it is the first to achieve this at an industrial scale in Europe, where mostly, other companies have only achieved limited or lab-scale success in the battery recycling space. The development proves the viability of graphite as an anode material f...

Li-Cycle Holdings Corp., a leading global lithium-ion battery resource recovery company, has partnered with a major auto original equipment manufacturer to recycle lithium-ion battery manufacturing scrap at its Germany-based spoke facility, Li-Cycle announced Jan. 30. Without disclosing the name of the company, Li-Cycle said that this exclusive agreement is with a high-performance, luxury vehicle OEM. The agreement is focused on supplying Li-Cycle’s Germany Spoke with feedstock originating ...

Ace Green Recycling Inc., known for its sustainable battery recycling technology, has entered into a strategic partnership with Spiro, Africa's largest electric vehicle company, to support the circular battery value chain in Africa. This collaboration will involve Ace recycling Spiro's end-of-life lithium-ion batteries, including lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, and waste from Spiro's battery manufacturing operations. As part of the agreement, Spiro has designated Ace its exclusive glo...

TNO, an independent statutory research organization based in the Netherlands, announced Jan. 21 that it is collaborating with SusPhos BV to jointly work toward establishing an economically viable recycling process for lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries. Both companies are part of an industrywide consortium called Top Consortium for Knowledge and Innovation (TKI) and are already working together, along with other partners, in a program named Green Chemistry and Circularity. TNO said tha...

Altilium, a UK-based battery recycling startup, has raised $5 million from leading Japanese trading and investment group Marubeni Corp., as part of its Series B funding round, the company announced Jan. 7. The investment marks a significant milestone in Altilium’s growth strategy and supports the company’s mission to deliver the UK’s most sustainable lithium-ion battery materials, through its full battery circularity offering, encompassing zero-carbon EV battery collection, black mass r...

Altilium, a UK-based clean technology group focused on recycling of critical battery materials, has signed a partnership agreement with Helm AG, a chemicals company, through its UK subsidiary LevertonHELM Ltd. to jointly work on building a sustainable domestic lithium supply chain in the UK, Altilium announced Jan. 14. The partnership aims to combine Altilium’s expertise in recovering battery materials from spent batteries with LevertonHELM’s advanced lithium production capabilities. Acco...

BMW Group announced Jan. 13 that it plans to expand its battery recycling business partnership with SK tes to the US-Mexico-Canada region as early as 2026. BMW had launched a pan-European partnership with SK tes, a leading provider of innovative technology life-cycle solutions, on Nov. 1, 2024. The latter’s special recycling process recovers cobalt, nickel and lithium from used batteries before returning them to the value chain to make new batteries. BMW’s expansion of closed-loop batt...

India-based battery recycling company Ace Green Recycling Inc. has announced the finalization of a lease agreement for creating the country's largest battery recycling facility near the strategic port of Mundra in Gujarat, India. This facility will enhance Ace's existing Indian operations that have been focused on recycling lithium-ion batteries, including lithium iron phosphate (LFP) chemistries, since 2023. The company aims to establish a capacity of recycling 10,000 metric tons of LFP batt...

Blue Whale Materials (BWM), a company specializing in advanced lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery recycling, has been awarded over $55 million by the US Energy Department's Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC) under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Battery Materials Processing and Battery Manufacturing Program. This funding is part of BWM's broader $110 million expansion effort aimed at enhancing its facility in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. The expansion is set to generate 150 perman...

American Battery Technology Co. (ABTC), an integrated critical battery materials company that is commercializing its technologies for both primary battery minerals manufacturing and secondary minerals lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery recycling, announced Dec. 18 that it has received a $144 million contract award of federal investment from the US Energy Department (DOE) to set up a new battery recycling facility. These funds are awarded to ABTC and its subcontractor Argonne National Laboratory to ...

Toyota Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc. (TEMA), part of Toyota Motor North America (TMNA) R&D, has been selected for a $4.5 million funding grant from the US Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy. This funding is allocated under the Catalyzing Innovative Research for Circular Use of Long-lived Advanced Rechargeables Program aimed at bolstering a domestic, circular supply chain for electric vehicle batteries. TEMA's Toyota Research Institute of ...

In a press release dated Dec. 11, SK Chemicals announced that it has successfully utilized circular recycling and bio-based materials in automotive components, in collaboration with Hyundai-Kia's AVP Division and Basic Materials Research Center, marking a significant advancement in the circular economy within the auto industry. This collaboration led to the development of the Kia EV3 Study Car, which featured six types of automotive parts made from these sustainable materials. The projec...

Cyclic Materials, an emerging leader in the advanced metals recycling industry focused on creating a circular supply chain for rare earth elements (REEs) and other critical metals, has entered into a significant multiyear offtake agreement with global natural resources company Glencore. This deal pertains to the supply of recycled copper, produced at Cyclic Materials' Spoke operations. The partnership is aimed at bolstering sustainable practices within the rare earths sector and promoting the...

US-based battery material recycling company Ascend Elements plans to commence production of sustainable lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) recovered from used lithium-ion batteries at its facility in Covington, Georgia, in 2025, the company announced Dec. 10. The company said that it plans to produce up to 3,000 metric tons of sustainable, domestic Li2CO3 per year. It claimed that recycled Li2CO3 is not produced at a commercial scale anywhere in the US, making it the first company to do so. The on...

As reported in a press release on Dec. 9, Valeo and CEA have announced a four-year collaboration to anticipate future technological advances and encourage exchanges within the French and European research ecosystems. Valeo and the CEA have been involved in joint research and development programs for more than 10 years. They are joining forces to address five key trends that are in line with Valeo’s innovation and sustainability strategy and the CEA’s mission to design and develop cut...

Tennessee Tech University has received a grant of nearly $5 million from the US Energy Department for developing advanced electric vehicle battery recycling technology. The project, led by Pingen Chen, an associate professor of Mechanical Engineering at the university, focuses on developing a mobile preprocessing hub. This hub is designed to enhance battery recycling processes at local collection sites by simplifying the procedure and improving the extraction and reuse of valuable raw mater...

Toshiba Corp. has developed a low-cost and sustainable method for recycling lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery oxide anodes, the company announced Nov. 6. The company said that it has developed a direct recycling method that enables the recycling of high-power, long-life oxide anode Li-ion batteries through a simple heat treatment process. It has also demonstrated the effectiveness of its innovative recycling method. Toshiba’s innovation on battery recycling is aligned with the EU Battery Regulat...

In a press release on Dec. 4, DENSO announced a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Canatu to further the practical application of carbon nanotube technology, a move aimed at enhancing autonomous driving technology and promoting carbon neutrality. The partnership is set to build on the companies' existing collaborations, especially in overcoming visibility issues in vehicles caused by frost and condensation through the development of transparent conductive films. Carbon nanotubes, known fo...

In a press release dated Nov. 27, BMW Group announced that it is advancing its commitment to the circular economy by constructing a Cell Recycling Competence Centre (CRCC) in Kirchroth, Lower Bavaria, focused on pioneering "direct recycling" of battery cells. The new facility's construction is set to begin in the second half of 2025, with the goal of validating the recycling method in near-series processes. This method, innovated internally by the BMW Group, allows for the mechanical dis...

Canada-based Neo Battery Materials Ltd., a low-cost silicon anode materials developer, has joined a consortium that includes major battery value chain companies and universities in a C$20 million recycled silicon battery project organized by the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE), the company announced Nov. 20. In a project titled Recycled Silicon-Based High Energy Density Electrode Manufacturing Technology Development, MOTIE and the Korea Evaluation Institute of...

UK-based battery recycling company Altilium has announced a major breakthrough in the development of the UK’s only domestic supply of sustainable low-carbon battery materials. In a press note on Nov. 18, the company said that for the first time, test results have confirmed that its recycled cathode active materials (CAM) are comparable to commercially available battery materials in the market. According to the company, these results mark a significant milestone in the development of a susta...

Webasto, a leading global system supplier for the automotive industry, has deployed second-life batteries at its Schierling plant in Germany, as part of the factory’s larger sustainability strategy, the company announced Nov. 7. The battery storage system deployed by Webasto has a capacity of 1 MWh. The storage system uses 30 second-life constant voltage (CV) standard batteries, which mainly come from preseries production and are now used for energy storage, the company said in its press no...

Dow, a global leader in materials science, and Guangdong Delian Group Co. Ltd. (Delian Group), entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to further the use of post-consumer recycled (PCR) resins within the automotive sector, promoting the move toward a more circular economy, Dow announced in a press release on Nov. 12. This collaboration comes after Delian Group's successful integration of Dow's REVOLOOP Recycled Plastics Resins in its auto care product packaging, representing the...

Kreisel Electric has announced a partnership with BASF to develop a closed-loop battery recycling system in Europe, aimed at supporting the development of next-generation batteries while adhering to sustainability practices. This collaboration is in line with Kreisel's commitment to sustainability and aims to advance battery recycling processes amid increasing demands for recycling efficiency driven by EU regulations and global sustainability goals. Kreisel prides itself on exceeding the...

Li-Cycle Holdings Corp., a leading global lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery resource recovery company, has entered into an agreement for a loan facility of up to $475 million (including up to $445 million of principal and up to $30 million in capitalized interest) through the US Energy Department (US DOE) Loan Programs Office’s (LPO) Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) program, the company announced Nov. 7. This is the first DOE loan facility to be finalized for a Li-ion battery ma...

Amara Raja Energy and Mobility Ltd. is set to begin commercial operations at its new lead acid battery recycling plant in Tamil Nadu, India, by the end of November. This move is part of the company's strategy to increase the use of recycled lead sources in its manufacturing processes. The plant, which is a project of subsidiary Amara Raja Circular Solutions located in Cheyyar, Tamil Nadu, aims to eventually meet 25-30% of Amara Raja's overall raw material needs. The facility, with an initial ...

The US government, as part of its Investing in America agenda, has announced a new funding initiative facilitated by the US Energy Department (DOE), providing $44.8 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) to support eight projects focused on reducing the costs associated with recycling electric vehicle batteries and their components. This financial boost aims to bolster the growing demand for EVs and support a more sustainable, domestic battery supply chain by researching, develo...

Toyota Motor Europe, along with its partners, has launched an open call for the second cohort of the Toyota Open Labs innovation platform, the company announced Oct. 25. The carmaker said that this initiative aims to connect startups with business units across the Toyota group and empower their ambitions to scale up and contribute to a sustainable future. According to Toyota, selected companies will get a chance to work with key business units on six strategic categories: a) Electric Ve...

Luxury-car maker Mercedes-Benz has opened its own closed-loop battery recycling plant in Germany, the company announced Oct. 21. It claimed that the newly opened battery recycling facility is not only the first in Europe but also makes Mercedes-Benz the first carmaker globally to close the battery recycling loop with its own in-house facility. The new battery recycling plant, which features an integrated mechanical-hydrometallurgical process, is located in Kuppenheim, southern Germany. With t...

Toyoda Gosei is doubling rubber recycling capacity at its Morimachi Plant, situated in central Japan, the company said in a press release on Oct. 18. This move is aimed at advancing the recycling of rubber materials used in vehicles, a segment where recycling has proven to be particularly challenging. In the automotive industry, where considerable progress has been made in recycling resources such as steel and plastic, rubber products have remained difficult to recycle, with most rubber waste...

In a press release dated Oct. 9, battery recycler Lithion Technologies announced that it has been officially chosen by Hyundai Auto Canada Corp., the Canadian subsidiary of the South Korean multinational automotive manufacturer, to be its primary partner for collecting and recycling electric vehicle batteries and modules in Canada. This partnership builds on an initial agreement from 2021 that aimed to validate Lithion's technology, capable of recovering 98% of minerals from batteries. Lithio...

SK tes has inaugurated a state-of-the-art battery recycling facility in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, highlighting its commitment to the burgeoning electric vehicle industry and addressing the critical demand for battery production materials. The facility, initially covering 10,000 square meters with the potential for expansion to 40,000 square meters, is equipped to process up to 10,000 metric tons of material annually. This capacity is expected to double as the company plans to expand onto an...

Recycling technology startup Cyclic Materials, which is known for developing advanced recycling processes for rare earth elements (REEs) and other critical materials, has successfully raised $53 million in its Series B equity round, the company announced Sept. 25. The funding round was led by ArcTern Ventures and supported by new investors BDC Capital’s Climate Tech Fund, Hitachi Ventures, Zero Infinity Partners, Climate Investment, and Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund. Existing i...

Altilium, a UK-based battery recycling technology company, will work with Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) on a groundbreaking project to produce and validate electric vehicle battery cells using materials recovered from end-of-life EV batteries, Altilium announced Sept. 26. The said project, which is expected to be a first for the UK, aims to demonstrate battery cells produced with recovered cathode active materials (CAM), leveraging its patented EcoCathode process to deliver a significant carbon red...

AE Elemental, a joint venture of US-based Ascend Elements and Poland-based Elemental Strategic Metals, has opened its first commercial-scale electric vehicle battery recycling facility in Zawiercie, Poland, Ascend Elements announced Sept. 19. The newly opened facility can process 12,000 metric tons of used lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries each year, estimated to be equal to 28,000 EV battery packs annually, making it one of the largest battery recycling facilities in Europe. The newly opened...

The US Energy Department (DOE) has announced plans to allocate up to $70 million toward enhancing the economics of recovering and reutilizing electric drive vehicle batteries. This funding, stemming from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, underscores a broader initiative to advance research, development and demonstration projects focused on second-life applications for electric vehicle batteries. Additionally, it aims to foster new technologies for recycling and reclaiming critical mater...

In a blog post, Daniel Kern, vice president of Global Automotive Development at Novelis, highlighted the sustainability benefits of recycling aluminum in the electric vehicle market. He said that Novelis has developed innovative scrap sortation and segregation operations to recover aluminum from end-of-life vehicles, thereby enhancing the value of its recycled content. Novelis has also researched and introduced new automotive aluminum alloys that support higher scrap content and has designed sin...

Lithium Australia Ltd. announced Sept. 4 that its wholly owned subsidiary, Envirostream Australia Pty. Ltd., which is a leading player in Australia’s battery recycling industry, has signed an exclusive three-year recycling agreement with BYD Auto Industry Co. Ltd., the automotive subsidiary of BYD Co. Ltd. BYD Auto, one of the largest electric vehicle manufacturers globally with sales of more than 3 million new-energy vehicles (NEVs) in 2023, entered the Australian market in 2022 and rapidl...

In a press release dated Sept. 10, Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corp. (MFTBC) announced its collaboration with True 2 Materials Pte. Ltd. (T2M), based in Singapore, to establish a pilot facility dedicated to recovering materials from used electric vehicle batteries. This facility, to be located at MFTBC's Kawasaki Plant, aims to evaluate the reusability of anode, cathode and electrolyte materials for battery cell manufacturers, starting in 2025. This initiative seeks to address the growing n...

Battery recycling startup Cylib broke ground on its first European industrial plant located at Currenta’s Chempark Dormagen in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the company announced Sept. 9. The groundbreaking of Cylib’s first industrial recycling facility comes about one year after the German battery recycling startup commissioned its pilot line in Aachen, Germany. The planned recycling facility will come up at a brownfield site located in a chemical park managed ...

Cylib has initiated the construction of a significant industrial plant in Dormagen, Germany, designed to recycle end-of-life lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries at an impressive capacity of 30,000 metric tons annually. The facility, expected to be operational by 2026, will create approximately 170 jobs and aligns with Currenta's ambition to evolve into Europe's premier sustainable chemical park. This development follows a successful pilot in Aachen, Germany, and represents the transition of Cylib'...

According to a press release Sep. 4, Nokian Tyres has entered into a developmental agreement with Reselo AB, a Swedish biomaterial science company, aiming to incorporate Reselo Rubber, a renewable material derived from birch bark residues from the pulp, paper and plywood industry, into its tire manufacturing process. The partnership seeks to adapt Reselo Rubber for commercial tire production, aiming to replace traditional fossil-based materials and potentially enhance tire performance. Heini ...

As reported in a press release on Aug. 28, Hyundai Mobis is intensifying its efforts in developing new materials for future mobility, focusing on sustainability, innovation and digital advancements. This strategic move is in anticipation of stricter global environmental regulations expected around 2030. The company has identified three key areas of development: Sustainable materials to comply with environmental standards, innovative materials to push the boundaries of mobility, and digital ma...

An upcoming battery recycling technology startup named ProtectLiB, which is a spin-off from the University of Graz, is developing a compact system for recycling lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles, according to a press note issued by the university on Aug. 26. The innovation enables cost-effective and environmentally friendly recycling of valuable raw materials directly on-site, it said in the note. Jürgen Abraham, Tobias Kopp and Chris Pichler, who are the co-founders of Protect...

Researchers at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Metalúrgicas (CENIM-CSIC) in Spain have developed an innovative two-stage process aimed at extracting lithium from black masses originating from NMC 622 electric vehicle batteries post their crushing and separation. This process results in the production of lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) with a purity exceeding 98.4%, alongside minimal lithium fluoride (LiF) content. A significant aspect of this stage is its efficiency in recovering 90-9...

Flux Power Holdings, Inc., known for developing advanced lithium-ion energy storage solutions for the commercial and industrial equipment sector, has announced a significant partnership with the United States' largest critical battery components recycling company. This collaboration is set to enhance the recycling process for end-of-life lithium-ion batteries, aligning with Flux Power's commitment to environmental responsibility. The partnership is geared towards creating a circular supply ch...

The California Assembly Committee on Appropriations in the US has recently passed Senate Bill 615, a legislative proposal aimed at ensuring the responsible recycling of electric vehicle batteries. This bill mandates that automotive manufacturers are responsible for the recycling of their EV batteries after the vehicles are retired. The legislation is now heading to the full Assembly and Senate for a vote expected later in August. Jessica Dunn, a senior analyst in the Clean Transportation Prog...

Sports-car maker Porsche has developed a new battery storage system with used Taycan batteries to supply power to its manufacturing plant in Leipzig, Germany, the company announced Aug. 6. The initiative is part of Porsche’s strategy to demonstrate how used high-voltage batteries from electric vehicles can be put to good use and conserve resources with the concept of second life. The newly developed stationary energy storage system (ESS) consists of 4,400 battery modules and is the siz...

Hyundai Glovis, a leading logistics and distribution company in South Korea, has entered into a strategic partnership for battery recycling with Chinese firm Huayou Cobalt, a recognized leader in the production of cobalt and high-nickel products essential for electric vehicle batteries. This collaboration was formalized through a memorandum of understanding signed by Hyundai Glovis CEO Lee Kyoo-bok and Huayou Recycling General Manager Bao Wei at Huayou Recycling's headquarters in Zhejiang, China...

UK-based battery-recycling company Altilium has signed a strategic agreement with Connected Energy, a leading developer of second-life battery energy storage systems, to develop sustainable and environmentally responsible business models for the repurposing and recycling of electric vehicle batteries, bringing value to both companies as well as battery manufacturers and automotive original equipment manufacturers, Altilium announced July 8. Notably, Connected Energy designs and develops energ...

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has announced a partnership with Pirelli to incorporate Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified natural rubber tires across JLR's range of modern luxury vehicles, according to a press release on July 11. This initiative, a first on such a scale in the global automotive sector, will see JLR adopting over 250,000 FSC-certified tires annually, starting with the new Range Rover Electric. This collaboration aligns with JLR's Reimagine strategy, underscoring its commitmen...

Hydrovolt, a battery recycling and raw materials company, plans to build a recycling plant in France as part of its capacity expansion strategy, the company announced July 2. Without disclosing the amount it plans to invest in building the proposed battery recycling plant in France, Hydrovolt said that its planned facility will be located in Hordain, in the heart of Northern France’s battery valley. Hydrovolt, which is a joint venture of Swedish battery-maker Northvolt and Norway’s Hyd...

Stellantis NV, a leading global automaker, is making considerable progress on its circular economy initiatives, which entail growing its presence in recycling, expanding its share in material sourcing while limiting impact on natural resources. The company’s circular economy initiatives are called SUSTAINera. Speaking at the International Automotive Recycling Congress (IARC), in Antwerp, Belgium, Alison Jones, senior vice president of Stellantis’ Global Circular Economy, said, “Since th...

Ascend Elements has shipped decarbonized cathode materials, including precursor (pCAM) and cathode active materials (CAM) to to Freudenberg e-Power Systems for applications in heavy-duty lithium-ion batteries, the company announced June 19. The shipment of pCAM material was engineered and manufactured at the Ascend Elements pilot facility in Westborough, Mass. The materials will be sintered and finished as CAM at the Ascend Elements location in Novi, Mich. before shipment to Freudenberg e-Pow...

German materials company BASF and WHW Recycling GmbH have entered into an agreement to process cathode and anode waste to establish a circular economy for battery materials in Europe, BASF announced June 18. The move is aligned with BASF’s strategy to expand its battery recycling operations and service offering for its customers. Notably, WHW Recycling is a joint venture between Walch Holding and Štefan Hanigovský, owner of the Slovakian waste disposal company Fecupral. The company is ...

Honda Motor Co. Ltd. and Mitsubishi Corporation have announced plans to establish a new 50-50 joint venture company, ALTNA Co. Ltd., in July 2024. The venture is the result of a memorandum of understanding signed by the two companies in October 2023, aimed at launching new businesses to capitalize on expected growth in the electric vehicle (EV) market and to support a future decarbonized society. The joint venture aims to address challenges such as optimizing the cost of EV usage, enhancing t...

Altilium, a UK-based clean technology group, and Enva, a recycling and resource recovery specialist, have announced a strategic partnership for the collection and recycling of electric vehicle batteries in the UK. This partnership leverages Enva's nationwide collection infrastructure and relationships with car dealerships, alongside Altilium's expertise in recycling EV batteries and recovering critical materials, including lithium. The firms will explore key initiatives such as the safe handl...

German materials company BASF has appointed Christine Grosse Lembeck to head its global Battery Recycling business, the company announced June 6. In her new role, Lembeck will be in charge to further grow BASF’s comprehensive solutions along the battery recycling value chain for battery producers, battery cell manufacturers and original equipment manufacturers. The business is an integral part of BASF's Battery Materials division, the company said. Lembeck holds a diploma in Business Adm...