Altilium has announced that the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) has successfully manufactured the UK’s first EV battery cells using recycled active cathode materials (CAM).
The pouch cells were manufactured at UKBIC’s state-of-the-art facility in Coventry using Altilium’s recycled EcoCathode NMC 811-2036 CAM, which is produced at the company’s recycling facilities in Devon. Altilium states that this helps in reducing the UK’s reliance on imported raw materials, but also cutting the carbon footprint of battery manufacturing, making EVs even greener.
The UKBIC in Coventry is a national research facility that opened in 2021 and can be used by all UK companies working on batteries for electric vehicles, rail vehicles, aerospace, industrial and domestic appliances and static energy storage. The 18,500 square metre facility represents an investment of £130 million.
Following the ACT1 pilot plant in Devon, from which the active cathode material now used for the battery cells originates, Altilium commissioned the ACT2 mini-commercialisation plant in Plymouth in November. The EcoCathode process mentioned above is to be applied and refined there and will later be used on an industrial scale in the planned ACT4 plant in Teesside. Altilium’s planned ACT4 recycling plant in Teesside will have a production capacity of 30,000 tonnes of CAM per year – enough to meet almost 20 per cent of expected UK demand by 2030, as the company claims.
According to research by Imperial College London, Altilium’s recycled battery materials can match or exceed the performance of new, mined materials, enabling longer battery life, faster charging times and lower costs. A life cycle analysis (LCA) by Minviro found that cathode materials made from Altilium’s recycled materials could have up to 74 per cent less impact on climate change than using primary mined materials from a Chinese supply chain.
“This milestone marks the first time full battery circularity has been achieved in the UK, from recovering critical minerals, including lithium, from end-of-life EV batteries and upcycling them into a high-performance cathode, to manufacturing a new battery for validation with a leading UK automotive OEM,” explained Dr Christian Marston, Altilium co-founder and COO, adding: “Through this collaboration with UKBIC, we are moving beyond the emerging black mass recycling industry and ensuring that these critical battery materials remain in the domestic supply chain.”
Ameir Mahgoub, UKBIC’s Head of Product Engineering, added: “We’re delighted to have been part of the team creating the UK’s first battery cells made using CAM containing recycled material. This pioneering project could be just the start of a journey that sees the UK becoming less reliant on imported materials and create a new market in recycled EV batteries.”
In January, Altilium received an investment of USD 5 million from the Japanese Marubeni Group as part of its Series B financing round. Marubeni has been active in the battery materials sector since 1985 and is also involved in the recycling of used batteries.
