Revolt: closing the loop on batteries

Scaling battery recycling in parallel to a ramp-up in battery manufacturing capacity is at the core of our plans to embed sustainability into the emerging European battery industry. The ambition is not without challenges, but we have every motivation for success – battery recycling provides a path to fundamentally changing the nature of the battery industry.

For all the good which the energy transition will bring, it is not without consequences. Crucially, it implies a shift from dependence on fossil-fuels to dependence on metals – ones which today are mined from the Earth in increasing volumes. At face value this circumstance is unsettling, and certainly not ideal from a sustainability perspective.

Fortunately, while resources are finite, as elements the metals used in batteries are inherently recyclable. Provided that we recover them in the right way, they stand as perfectly suitable materials for use in the production of new batteries.

From a chemical perspective, recycled metals are functionally identical to metals sourced through mining. It is for this reason that we can orient the battery industry towards becoming a circular one: an industry which recovers its products back from the market for recycling and circulates materials back into production flows.

A sustainable battery industry begins and ends with sustainable battery recycling.

Sourcing raw materials for battery production through recycling represents a profound opportunity. Compared to mining for metals, it’s the cheapest option, the more sustainable option, and the most secure option. And while recycling makes sense today, the industrial logic will only become increasingly significant as global battery production intensifies and we move forward to a society ever more dependent on metals.

Here is how and why we are closing the loop on batteries with Revolt – Northvolt’s in-house program for battery recycling.

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