The UK Government has awarded clean technology company Altilium £18.5m to build the ‘UK’s first’ commercial facility for recovering critical battery materials.
The ACT3 plant will have the capacity to process 24,000 EV batteries per year, Altilium said, and produce essential components for next-generation battery manufacturing.
The UK government’s DRIVE35 Scale-Up Fund awarded £18.5 million in grant funding, which is delivered by the Department for Business and Trade in partnership with the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC) and Innovate UK.
The funding will support the construction of Altilium’s new ACT3 recycling facility, which it said will be the ‘UK’s first’ commercial refinery for the recovery of critical battery materials from end-of-life electric vehicle (EV) batteries.
The plant in Plymouth, where Altilium already operates a hydrometallurgical pilot plant for EV battery recycling, is expected to create 70 new jobs. Construction is set to begin this summer, with commissioning planned for the end of 2027.
Altilium said it wants to establish a domestic circular supply chain for low-carbon battery materials in the UK to reduce reliance on imported raw materials.
Commenting on the announcement, Christian Marston, Altilium COO, said: “This funding marks a pivotal moment for Altilium and for the UK’s battery ecosystem.”
“By scaling our recycling technology and building the UK’s first commercial facility of its kind, we are closing the loop on battery materials and enhancing the growth, productivity and competitiveness of the UK automotive supply chain.”
The site will industrialise Altilium’s proprietary hydrometallurgical recycling technology, which is capable of recovering over 95% of cathode and anode materials from battery waste.
According to an independent lifecycle assessment (LCA), the recycled materials produce up to 74% lower emissions than mined alternatives.
