The battery technology startup Britishvolt and its backer, the FTSE 100 metals and mining firm Glencore, have announced plans to build a plant capable of recycling lithium-ion batteries used in cars and electronic devices.
The two firms plan to use 100% renewable energy to recycle batteries at Britannia Refined Metals, owned by Glencore, at a site in Northfleet in Kent that was previously home to the UK’s largest coal-fired power station.
Once up and running, with the opening planned for 2023, the plant will be capable of recycling a minimum of 10,000 tonnes of lithium-ion batteries a year, equivalent to 50,000 electric car batteries.
The plant will be able to process batteries from cars and portable electronic devices, as well as processing scrap from Britishvolt’s planned “gigafactory” in Blyth, Northumberland, transported to Kent by barge to limit carbon emissions.
The government said last month that it would invest £100m in Britishvolt to help jumpstart the car battery manufacturer’s plans to build the facility, which it says will be able to produce 300,000 battery packs for electric cars each year.
Britishvolt said the investment, via the Automotive Transformation Fund, would enable long-term partnership with the fund managers Tritax and abrdn to deliver £1.7bn in private funding for the construction of the shell and core of the gigafactory.
“Recycling is key to a successful energy transition and has always been a major part of Britishvolt business model,” said Timon Orlob, the chief operating officer of Britishvolt.
“We’ve been looking for the perfect partner to help kickstart a UK battery recycling industry and FTSE 100-listed Glencore has expert historical experience in recycling.”
He said the joint venture would help create a “truly sustainable battery value chain, create jobs and develop new battery recycling technologies.
“Both Britishvolt and Glencore are fully committed to reducing carbon across the supply chain.”
According to Faraday Institution, a battery research body, there are no substantial recycling facilities for lithium-ion battery packs in the UK, leading to manufacturers exporting used batteries to European facilities instead.
Greenpeace data suggests that about 12.85m tonnes of EV lithium-ion batteries will go offline between 2021 and 2030.
Britishvolt is still in the early phase of its plans to build a gigafactory that it says could start production in 2024, helping kickstart a battery manufacturing revolution as the UK aims to cut emissions.
Glencore has previously come in for criticism over its environmental record, given its role in the global extraction and trade of minerals and fossil fuels.
In December, it defended plans to build a coalmine in Queensland, Australia, after telling the federal government more than a dozen threatened species could be on the site.
It has also faced scrutiny over sulphur dioxide emissions in Zambia. But in recent years, it has been at pains to burnish its green credentials, predicting that its carbon footprint would shrink by almost a third by 2035.
