World’s largest battery make CATL to build multiple recycling plants in Europe

The world’s largest battery maker CATL is in talks to establish multiple battery recycling sites in Europe and is also seeking partners to set up recycling sites in North America.

“We believe recycling is a must, otherwise when a vehicle retires, what do you do? It’s polluting soil, difficult, dangerous and can be explosive.” CATL’s chief manufacturing officer Ni Jun said during a panel at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions this week.

Ni said CATL is already the world’s largest electric-vehicle battery recycler, with the capacity to recover more than 99% of a cell’s nickel, cobalt and manganese and more than 90% of its lithium.

Ni Jun didn’t give any details on where the new facilities would be built however CATL currently only has one battery factory in Europe which is in Germany so it would make sense to have the recycling facility  nearby. CATL is also building a second battery factory in Hungry which is due to be completed in four years.

CATL is not only the largest battery maker, it’s also one of the most technologically advanced.

In April CATL announced it had made one of the most significant battery breakthroughs in recent years with its “condensed” battery which has an energy density of 500 Wh/kg which it says will go into mass production this year.

“The launch of condensed batteries will usher in an era of universal electrification of sea, land and air transportation, open up more possibilities of the development of the industry, and promote the achieving of the global carbon neutrality goals at an earlier date,” the company during the announcement in April.

CATL’s new condensed battery will have almost double the energy intensity of Tesla’s 4680 cells, whose rating of 272-296 Wh/kg are considered very high by current standards.