Altilium to create new batteries from old ones
Altilium, a pioneering clean technology group, has recently unveiled an innovative project aimed at producing and validating electric vehicle (EV) battery cells using materials extracted from end-of-life EV batteries.
The project will showcase battery cells manufactured with recovered cathode active materials (CAM), which will undergo validation for use in vehicles with JLR at the OEM’s facilities. It has received support from the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK through the latest round of its Advanced Route to Market Demonstrator (ARMD) competition.
Altilium will leverage its cutting-edge EcoCathode process to facilitate carbon reductions by reclaiming critical materials such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel. The goal is to diminish the necessity for freshly-mined materials, enhance circularity in EV production, and attain a significant 60% reduction in carbon emissions.
The production of these cells is scheduled to take place at the nation’s esteemed battery manufacturing scale-up facility, the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC), utilizing recovered battery materials produced by Altilium at its commercial ACT2 facility, along with its ACT1 pilot sites – both situated in Devon.
Dr Christian Marston, Altilium’s Chief Operating Officer, expressed, “By showcasing that EV battery cells crafted from reclaimed materials can meet the stringent standards of the automotive industry, we are not only mitigating the environmental impact of battery production but also aiding the UK in establishing a more sustainable and robust EV supply chain.
“This project stands as a pivotal milestone in our quest to decarbonize the battery value chain and provide support to automotive OEMs in reaching their regulatory and sustainability objectives.”
This initiative further builds upon Altilium’s previously announced collaboration with UKBIC, backed by Innovate UK’s Faraday Battery Challenge, which focused on commencing the prototyping of EV battery cells utilizing recycled CAM.
Sean Gilgunn, the Managing Director of UKBIC, remarked, “Our role in the battery ecosystem is to assist companies in validating that their new materials and technologies can be industrialized. Working alongside Altilium will assist them in demonstrating the efficacy of their recycled CAM as a viable option in future EV batteries.”
Altilium’s anticipated Teesside hub is poised to become one of the UK’s largest integrated battery recycling facilities, with the capacity to process 150,000 EV batteries annually and furnish 30,000tpa of CAM back into the UK’s burgeoning gigafactory complex.
Image courtesy of Altilium
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