Northvolt and Hydro have formed a joint venture, Hydro Volt, to enable recycling of battery materials and aluminium from the Norwegian market for electric vehicles.
Hydro Volt will establish a recycling hub in Norway, which will start operations in 2021.
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The launch of the joint venture follows an investment in Northvolt by Hydro in 2019 and strengthens the partnership between the battery manufacturer and the aluminium company, which is based around advancing circular industry technologies and material flows.
Hydro Volt will start operations in Fredrikstad, Norway, with a feed of batteries coming from the Norwegian EV market.
“Northvolt has set a target for 50% of our raw material in 2030 coming from recycled batteries,” said Revolt Recycling Business Unit chief environmental officer, Emma Nehrenheim.
“The partnership with Hydro is an important piece of the puzzle to secure an external feed of material before our own batteries begin returning back to us.”
Through the Revolt project, Northvolt seeks to reduce the need for mining raw materials, improve security of supply and lower the environmental footprint of cells by reducing mining-related emissions.
The target will be secured through a phased build-up in recycling capacity, starting with the launch of a pilot plant later this year followed by the establishment of a full-scale recycling plant at the Northvolt Ett gigafactory for lithium-ion batteries in Skellefteå, Sweden, in 2022.
“Hydro Volt can handle aluminium from end-of-life batteries as part of our total metal value chain, contribute to the circular economy and at the same time lessen the climate footprint from the metal we supply,” added Hydro VP for Energy and Corporate, Arvid Moss.
The recycling hub, which will be designed for crushing and sorting batteries, will process more than 8,000 tons of batteries in the early stages of the launch with capacity being expanded in time.
Material output from the recycling processes in Fredrikstad will include so-called black mass and aluminium, which will be transported to Northvolt’s and Hydro’s recycling plants respectively.
