As the EV world is progressing at a rapid pace, the shift to this segment is taking place at a surprisingly fast rate. However, allied to this shift is the problem of thousands of EV batteries that will become useless each year. This problem was highlighted a few years ago and thus EU battery recycling process has been started faster.
Where Is This Setup Located?
In a bid to reduce the pollution due to such batteries, Hydrovolt was established in Fredrikstad, Norway.
Right from the start, the target of the project was to recycle more batteries than other facilities in Europe, which is exactly what the plant has been able to achieve.
According to recent news, a ray of hope has come for environmentalists in which Hyrdovolt has now come online.
Which Companies Are Behind The Project?
The project is the brainchild of two companies that entered a JV for it. These include:
- Hydro;
- Northvolt.
Hydro is considered one of the largest Aluminum companies in the world whereas Northvolt is a renowned enterprise that operates in Germany & Sweden.
What Is The Capacity Of Hydrovolt?
The new Hyrdovolt plant is capable of recycling around 25,000 EV batteries per year. This turns out to be around 12,000 tons of battery packs.
This number is so substantial that it is equal to the total EV batteries discarded each year in Norway.
It is worth noting that Norway is one of the leading countries globally in terms of EV sales. This explains the tremendous scale at which Hydrovolt will function.
What Elements Will Hydrovolt Be Able To Recover From EV Batteries?
Hydrovolt is confident that due to its state of the art machines, the facility will be able to extract almost 95% of the total content of EV batteries.
Some of the battery elements that Hydrovolt claims to be able to extract from EV batteries include:
- Plastics;
- Copper;
- Aluminum;
- Black Mass which contains Nickel, Lithium, Cobalt & Manganese.
What Benefits Will The Partners Yield?
The partners are likely to yield mutual benefits from this setup:
- Hydro will gain access to a huge quantum of Aluminum which will become reusable with just 5% effort. It is worth noting that Aluminum is one of the most recycled materials in the world.
- Northvolt will use the large amounts of expensive items extracted from the Black Mass which will again be used by the company in battery manufacturing in its plants located in Europe.
As the prices of materials used in EV batteries have spiked due to global shortage and supply issues, EU battery recycling process has played a vital role in providing additional raw materials to manufacturers.
What Are The Future Plans Of Northvolt?
Northvolt is trying hard to arrange at least 50% of the materials used in EV batteries from the recycling process. The company is striving to achieve this target by 2030.
While the plan seems promising, it is extremely difficult to achieve because of the increasing number of EVs manufactured each year due to surging demand.
Should We Expect Other Similar Projects?
Yes, this is not where the joint venture between the two companies ends. Rather this is just the beginning. That’s because they now aim to expand their operations of recycling to other European regions as well.
The location of the plant was carefully and wisely selected as Norway because of the large number of EVs in operation in this country.
As many governments in Europe are likely to introduce strict requirements for recycling plants, Hydrovolt sees a huge potential in this domain.
The company now has eyes on the following recycling targets regarding electric vehicle batteries:
- By 2025: 70,000 tons;
- By 2030: 300,000 tons.
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