In order to establish more sustainable electric vehicle manufacturing in the United Kingdom, Altilium and Nissan have partnered to recycle waste from Nissan batteries, working to develop a closed-loop system for battery materials in the country.
The collaborative program, supported by grant funding from the Advanced Propulsion Center, will focus on strengthening technical abilities and research and development at the Nissan Technical Center Europe and will work to advance EV battery reuse, recycling, and energy balancing technologies. Specifically, the project will work to process waste from Nissan Leaf EV batteries and production scrap, generating high nickel chemistry cathode active materials (CAM) to be used for testing in the company’s next generation of EV batteries.
Altilium uses a hydrometallurgical process called EcoCathode, which can recover over 95% of cathode materials from end-of-life batteries. According to the company, the materials are not simply recycled -- they are upcycled and re-engineered into high nickel CAM, aiming to reduce the carbon footprint of the material by 50% and the cost by 20%.
Altilium’s battery circularity model will reportedly produce 30,000 metric tons of CAM, or enough to meet 20% of U.K. demand by 2030.
EV battery recycling maintains a host of benefits for the EV industry at large. For one, critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, and copper, are not endlessly available and are expected to face shortages as demand for these materials continues to increase. Without adequate access to these minerals, the price of EVs would likely increase.
Mining for critical minerals is also a separate issue as the practice may damage ecosystems or contaminate water resources surrounding critical mineral mining sites. Recycling EV batteries may help mitigate these concerns by using materials already in circulation.
The U.K. also aims to strengthen its domestic supply chains of battery materials by investing in recycling efforts, hoping to avoid price volatility associated with global supply chains and imported materials.
“The collaboration with Nissan and Connected Energy marks a significant milestone in our mission to create a sustainable ecosystem for EV batteries,” said Christian Marston, co-founder and chief operating officer of Altlium. “Together, we are leveraging our strengths and resources to revolutionize how we manage and repurpose EV batteries, ensuring the UK has a domestic and sustainable source of battery materials for low carbon transportation.”
