CATL in talks to set up battery recycling operations in Europe

CATL is in talks to set up a battery recycling business in Europe, discussing possible plant sites with European governments including Hungary, according to Bloomberg. Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL, SHE: 300750) is in talks to set up battery recycling operations in Europe, according to a Bloomberg report today. The Chinese power battery giant is in discussions with European governments, including Hungary, about possible factory sites, Jason Chen, CATL’s regional operations chief, said in an interview with Bloomberg. Establishing recycling operations would help CATL mitigate environmental concerns over battery production and disposal, the report noted. European companies are potential partners in the initiative, Chen said, in addition to CATL’s own Guangdong Brunp Recycling Technology Co. On September 5, 2022, CATL signed a land pre-purchase agreement with the Hungarian city of Debrecen, marking the official launch of its plant project in the country. The project has an investment of €7.34 billion and a planned capacity of 100 GWh, CATL said at the time. The plant will be CATL’s second in Europe apart from its German plant and will produce battery cell and module products for European automakers. The Hungarian battery cell manufacturing plant is expected to start production in the second half of 2025, Bloomberg said in the report today, citing Chen. CATL is targeting an annual capacity of 40 GWh in the first phase, expanding to 100 GWh, enough to power more than 1 million vehicles, the report noted. Power batteries contain a number of non-renewable metallic elements and their carbon emissions from mining and processing account for a significant proportion of the battery production cycle. On April 16 this year, Volvo Cars and CATL signed a strategic cooperation memorandum to collaborate in the area of battery recycling. The partnership aimed to promote the recycling of battery materials and reduce the carbon footprint of electric vehicles throughout their life cycle, Volvo Cars said at the time. Volvo and CATL would reduce EV full lifecycle carbon emissions by dismantling, recycling and reusing used batteries. Volvo would recycle retired batteries from the EVs it sells, as well as batteries that are scrapped during factory production. These batteries would be dismantled by Volvo’s certified suppliers to extract more than 90 percent of the nickel, cobalt, lithium and other metal materials, according to an April statement. CATL would utilize these newly extracted recycled materials to produce new batteries that will be used in the production of new Volvo cars.