EMR opens multi-million-pound UK EV battery plant

EMR has opened its first UK-based EV battery recycling centre at its Birmingham facility.

Earlier in the year, the company opened a similar facility at a site in Hamburg, Germany, in partnership with Northvolt – said to be one of Europe’s largest battery manufacturers.

The UK facility was officially opened on 18 September with a ceremony attended by some recognisable brands within the automotive sector, such as Bentley, Jaguar Land Rover and BMW.

EMR said the site 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.

Batteries that arrive on the site have been initially sourced via product recalls, warranty failures and end-of-life e-bikes and e-scooters. They are then 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 is a natural step born from 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.

Chris Sheppard, chief executive of EMR, said: “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.”
‘Securing a sustainable future’

Julian Hetherington, automotive transformation director at the APC, added: “At the APC, we are proud to support such initiatives, which will play a crucial role in decarbonising the automotive industry. By recycling and remanufacturing batteries, EMR is addressing one of the key challenges in the EV supply chain and helping to secure a sustainable future for electric mobility.”

Helen Waters, head of electric battery recycling at EMR, concluded: “While the transition to EVs is now speeding up, it will be 10 to 15 years before they arrive at EMR facilities in anything like the same quantities that petrol-powered vehicles do today. The opening of this new facility at EMR Birmingham is further proof that EMR is solving tomorrow’s challenges today.”