A large plant for recycling spent e-car batteries is to go into operation in the Billbrook district of Hamburg. The operators are the Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt and the globally active British metal recycler European Metal Recycling (EMR). Following extensive conversion work, the facility for dismantling the so-called traction batteries has been built on an area of 12,000 square meters in Billbrook. With the growing number of electrically powered cars on the roads, the topic of battery recycling is also gaining in importance.
Northvolt has become known to a wide audience in northern Germany primarily with its plan to build a large factory near Heide in the once structurally weak Dithmarschen region. Investments of 4.5 billion euros are under discussion there, 3000 jobs are to be created, and batteries for one million electric cars are to be produced annually. Northvolt’s goal is to build “the most environmentally friendly battery in the world, with a minimal carbon footprint and the highest standards of recycling.”
