NorthVolt Reveals First Battery Cell Made From Recycled Nickel, Manganese & Cobalt

As EVs are gaining momentum, the battery cells are becoming problematic. Firstly, there are enough batteries going around while the range is also still a challenge. But perhaps the biggest issue comes up against the green credentials of many of these batteries as mining batteries is problematic. Now NorthVolt has revealed that it has produced the first battery cell which has a cathode built from 100 percent recycled nickel, manganese, and cobalt. 

NorthVolt is a battery startup that has been started by two former Tesla executives who worked at the first Gigafactory in Nevada with Panasonic. The startup between the Swedish which has been backed by Volkswagen and has a massive battery facility in Sweden. Volkswagen's investment also comes with an option to create a 50-50 joint venture to build another battery factory to supply it. 

Volkswagen has made a massive order of $14 billion towards NorthVolt and this development comes as a part of the massive investment. 

Volkswagen uses NorthVolt's batteries in its electric cars 

"Uniquely, all recycling and production processes were completed on a single site, at Northvolt Labs in Vasteras, Sweden. The development stands as a breakthrough for the battery industry and a milestone for Northvolt in its mission to establish a sustainable supply of batteries to support the decarbonization of society," NorthVolt revealed. 

NorthVolt has plans to ramp up its recycling effort. It wants to make 50 percent of its batteries like this by 2030. 

"With construction beginning in Q1 2022 and operations in 2023, the recycling plant will receive incoming material for recycling from two sources: end-of-life batteries from electric vehicles and production scrap from Northvolt Ett," NorthVolt added. 

NorthVolt plans on recycling 125,000 tons of batteries per year and hopes to leverage this to activate 30 GWh of new battery cells every year.