Recently, Hydrovolt, Europe's largest power battery recycling plant jointly established by Swedish battery manufacturer Bevv and Norway's largest aluminum company Hydro, was officially launched in Norway. It will take the lead in promoting the commercial recycling business of electric vehicle batteries in Norway. The French carmaker provides services and will expand its power battery recycling business to the whole of Europe within the year.
In view of the relatively backward capacity and scale of power battery recycling in Europe, the opening of the Hydrovolt plant can be regarded as a milestone in the recycling and reuse of power batteries in the region. It will not only lay the foundation for the development of electrification in Europe, but also pave the way for the formulation and introduction of stricter battery recycling regulations. flat road.
It is understood that the Hydrovolt factory will use 100% renewable energy and use a large-scale automatic process for crushing and sorting batteries, capable of processing about 12,000 tons of battery packs and about 25,000 electric vehicle batteries per year. The entire process can recover up to 95 percent of the material from the battery, including secondary metals as well as a black compound containing nickel, manganese, cobalt and lithium that can be used to make the battery.
Hydro said it will use recycled metal from the Hydrovolt plant to produce commercial-grade aluminum products. Northvolt also revealed that it plans to use 50% of the black compound at the Hydrovolt plant to produce batteries by 2030 to reduce its reliance on imported mineral metals.
The Hydrovolt plant expects to recycle 150,000 power batteries a year by 2025 and 500,000 by 2030. The Hydrovolt plant is currently looking for suitable new sites in places such as Germany and France.
The expansion of the battery recycling business at the Hydrovolt plant to the whole of Europe is imperative, and in the future it is possible to process other types of batteries besides car batteries, including batteries from the maritime sector across Europe.
In fact, Beifu initially only planned to focus on the European market, but has now begun to consider expanding its battery recycling business to the United States.
Hydro said that batteries play a key role in the global transition to a low-carbon economy, and by expanding the scale of used battery recycling, it can lay the foundation for sustainable development and supply chain cycles in the European battery market.
The Hydrovolt plant has also won contracts worth more than $50 billion from BMW, Volkswagen, Volvo, and other auto companies, aiming to provide financial support for a huge battery recycling program.
As regulators require automakers to safely dispose of batteries at the end of a vehicle's useful life, demand for battery recycling is expected to increase significantly and competition for Hydrovolt plants will intensify. The Hydrovolt plant said that, as one of the biggest players in battery recycling, it will work hard to build relationships with automakers, insurers and regulators.
While electric vehicles can alleviate pollution to a great extent, the production of lithium-ion batteries that power the vehicles is energy-intensive, and sourcing battery metals is often a difficult, costly and environmentally damaging endeavor. Based on this, it is very important to recycle and reuse the battery.
At present, the EU is passing legislation to force the recycling of batteries. In the new battery regulations implemented on January 1 this year, the EU requires battery manufacturers and car manufacturers to publish information on the carbon footprint of batteries. At the same time, the EU has added a new requirement for the proportion of recycled raw materials in the regulations, that is, by 2030, the proportion of recycled cobalt will reach at least 12%, and both lithium and nickel will reach 4%. By 2035, cobalt, lithium and nickel are recycled. The proportion of nickel used will further reach 20%, 10% and 12%.
It is worth noting that an association of 11 European automakers and battery producers will work together to develop a "battery passport" to track the flow of batteries in the European region, including battery content, usage, carbon footprint, etc. The members of the association include Automaker BMW, chemical giant BASF, materials technology company Umicore and more.
The above-mentioned associations have received 8.2 million euros in funding. According to the plan, the "battery passport" comes with a QR code that can be connected to an online database where electric vehicle owners, companies or regulators can obtain battery composition information and related carbon emissions. Footprint situation. The EU may use the "battery passport" to further strengthen the regulation of used batteries, while expanding the reuse of recycled materials.
