The Birmingham facility was officially opened on 18 September with a special ceremony attended by some of the largest names in the automotive sector, including partners from the RECOVAS consortium such as Bentley, Jaguar Land Rover, and BMW. The event marked a significant milestone for the UK’s EV industry, showcasing EMR’s continued leadership in sustainable solutions.
The facility will have the capacity to test for reuse or repair, or process batteries ready for shredding, handling more than 2,000 tonnes of batteries per year. These high-performance EV batteries will be essential in enabling the automotive industry to decarbonise in the years ahead, so it is vital that they can be sustainably reused, remanufactured, or recycled to safeguard the valuable resources in them, including cobalt, lithium, and nickel.
As the UK’s largest end-of-life vehicle (ELV) recycler, EMR has embraced this challenge as part of its long-standing commitment to sustainability, and investment in groundbreaking technology. Batteries arriving at the site – initially sourced via product recalls, warranty failures, and end-of-life e-bikes and e-scooters – will be assessed to determine whether the battery pack can be reused in a new vehicle, remanufactured for use in the energy storage sector, or recycled.
The multi-million-pound plant follows EMR's involvement in the RECOVAS consortium, a collaborative research and development project launched in 2020 with grant funding from the Department for Business and Trade via the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC). The project's aim is to develop the UK's first commercial-scale recycling facility for automotive battery packs.
“This is an exciting new chapter in EMR’s history, and I’m proud of our team’s hard work in making this possible” said Chris Sheppard, Chief Executive of EMR. “The Birmingham facility is the latest in our efforts to ensure that we stay ahead of the curve in sustainability, innovation, and technology. By creating a circular supply chain for EV batteries, we are not only supporting the UK’s transition to net zero, but we are also setting a benchmark for others to follow in this rapidly evolving industry.”
Image: (left to right) Chris Sheppard, Chief Executive of EMR, Julian Hetherington, Automotive Transformation Director at the APC, Helen Waters, Head of Electric Battery Recycling at EMR, Tony Harper, Challenge Director for the Faraday Battery Challenge at UKRI.
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