Hydro and Northvolt announced the formation of a joint venture to enable recycling of battery materials and aluminum from electric vehicles. Through Hydro Volt AS, the companies plan to build a pilot battery recycling plant, which will be the first of its kind in Norway.
Hydro Volt AS plans to establish the recycling facility in Fredrikstad, Norway, with an expected production start in 2021. The 50/50 joint venture is established between the Norway-based global aluminum company Hydro and Northvolt, a leading European battery manufacturer based in Sweden.
Output from the planned battery recycling plant in Fredrikstad will include so-called black mass and aluminum, which will be transported to Northvolt’s and Hydro’s plants, respectively. Other products from the recycling process will be sold to scrap metal buyers and other off-takers.
The pilot recycling facility will be highly automated and designed for crushing and sorting batteries. It will have capacity to process more than 8,000 tonnes of batteries per year, with an option of expanding capacity later.
In a second phase, the battery recycling facility could handle a considerable share of the commercial volumes from lithium-ion batteries in the electric vehicle fleet throughout Scandinavia.
A typical EV (electric vehicle) battery pack may contain more than 25 percent aluminum, totaling about 70-100 kg aluminum per pack. The aluminum retrieved from the new plant will be sent to Hydro’s recycling operations, enabling more production of low-carbon Hydro CIRCAL products.
By establishing this facility in Norway, Hydro Volt AS can access and handle battery recycling directly in the most mature EV market in the world, while reducing the number of batteries sent out of the country. The Norwegian company Batteriretur, located in Fredrikstad, will supply batteries to the recycling plant and is also planned as operator of the pilot plant.
The launch of the battery recycling joint venture follows Hydro’s investment in Northvolt in 2019. It will further strengthen the partnership between the battery manufacturer and the aluminum company.
For Hydro, the partnership also represents an opportunity to ensure that aluminum from Hydro will be used in tomorrow’s batteries and battery system.
Published in the August 2020 Edition