Marubeni invests £4m in UK EV battery recycling

The investment will go to towards the next development stage of the technology group’s Teesside electric vehicle (EV) battery recycling facility.  

This will include engineering studies, land acquisition, planning and permitting and the recruitment of the leadership team. 

Once operational, Altilium said that the plant will have capacity to process battery waste from 150,000 EVs per year, producing 30,000 MT of low carbon CAM. This would be enough to meet 20% of the UK’s CAM requirement by 2030.  

Kamran Mahdavi, CEO of Altilium, commented: “We are proud to welcome Marubeni as a strategic partner at this pivotal stage in Altilium’s growth journey. Their investment strengthens our position as leaders in sustainable battery materials and reinforces our commitment to building the UK’s largest EV battery recycling facility.  

“Together, we are advancing our mission to create a UK closed-loop supply chain, reduce dependency on imported materials and lowering the environmental footprint of battery production. This partnership marks a major milestone in establishing a truly circular economy for the UK’s battery industry.”  

The latest investment comes as part of Altilium’s Series B funding round. It completed its Series A funding round with a US$12 million investment from SQM Lithium Ventures, the corporate venture arm of the lithium business of Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile (SQM). 

Altilium and Marubeni signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in 2023. The two companies have since jointly been developing a closed loop EV battery recycling business in the UK.  

Marubeni has been involved in the battery material industry since 1985. It recently entered the battery recycling industry through investments into the US recycling market.