Recently, the Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt began shipping, becoming the first European company to supply power batteries to automakers. Not only that, Hydrovolt, a European power battery recycling company, has also launched a commercial recycling business.
Although it has only been established for six years, Northvolt has received investments from BMW, Volkswagen, Goldman Sachs, Spotify and other companies, and a private equity investment of $2.75 billion was obtained in June last year. Established by Northvolt and Hydro, Hydrovolt is Europe's largest recycling plant for electric vehicle batteries, processing around 25,000 used batteries a year.
Northvolt said that due to the shortage of upstream raw materials and high prices, the company's increased battery shipments can help carmakers increase production capacity. For European carmakers, Northvolt could also change its reliance on external suppliers in Europe and improve the security of battery supply.
At present, the sales of new energy vehicles in Europe account for nearly 34% of the global share, making it the second largest market in the world. However, in the new energy vehicle industry chain, it has no advantage in battery supply and mineral resources. According to data from market research institution SNE Research, in the first quarter of this year, the top ten companies in the global power battery vehicle installations were all Asian companies, with an overall market share of more than 90%. Data from the U.S. Geological Survey shows that the upstream raw materials required for power batteries are mostly in Latin America, Africa and Australia.
Most of Northvolt's customers are local European car companies. The company said it has secured more than $50 billion in orders from automakers including BMW, Volkswagen and Volvo, and will expand production for the rest of the year. Volkswagen, one of Northvolt's biggest investors, has unveiled plans to build battery factories locally and hopes to build six large battery factories in Europe by 2030.
To reduce transportation costs and carbon emissions during transportation, Northvolt typically chooses to build refineries near mines. Most other battery companies do so by transporting spodumene, the raw material from which lithium is extracted, to distant refineries (even across borders) to operate.
The battery recycling project started by Northvolt is called Revolt. Its technology uses a nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) cathode, which allows the metal to be recovered from battery waste through a low-energy hydrometallurgical process. Each of Northvolt's factories has a Revolt recycling program and expects to use 50% recycled material in its battery production by 2030. According to BNEF data, by 2035, the global scale of retired batteries available for recycling will reach about 5 million tons, enough to meet the needs of 15% to 30% of the main metals used in battery production.
In addition to Europe, many countries around the world are also stepping up the layout of the battery industry chain. Not long ago, Argentina, Chile, and Bolivia, which are rich in lithium ore resources, are also seeking to build electric vehicle supply chains.
Since the beginning of this year, global power battery companies have welcomed the market trend. Among them, LG New Energy, the world's second-largest electric vehicle battery manufacturer, made the largest initial public offering (IPO) in South Korea's history in January, raising about $10.6 billion.
