EMR strengthens the EV revolution with new battery recycling centre

The centre is EMR's second such facility. In 2024 EMR opened a site in Hamburg, Germany, in partnership with Northvolt, one of Europe’s largest battery manufacturers.

The Birmingham facility was officially opened on 18th September 2024 with a special ceremony attended by some of the largest names in the automotive sector, including partners from the RECOVAS consortium such as Bentley, Jaguar Land Rover, and BMW. The event marked a significant milestone for the UK’s EV industry, showcasing EMR’s continued leadership in sustainable solutions.

The facility 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. These high-performance EV batteries will be essential in enabling the automotive industry to decarbonise in the years ahead, so it is vital that they can be sustainably reused, remanufactured, or recycled to safeguard the valuable resources in them, including cobalt, lithium, and nickel.

As the UK’s largest end-of-life vehicle (ELV) recycler, EMR has embraced this challenge as part of its long-standing commitment to sustainability, and investment in groundbreaking technology. Batteries arriving at the site – initially sourced via product recalls, warranty failures, and end-of-life e-bikes and e-scooters – will be 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 follows 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.

‘Exciting chapter’

Chris Sheppard, Chief Executive of EMR, said: “This is an exciting new chapter in EMR’s history, and I’m proud of our team’s hard work in making this possible. 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.”

Julian Hetherington, Automotive Transformation Director at the APC, added: “The opening of EMR’s battery recycling facility is a significant step forward in the UK’s EV journey. 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: “The transition to EVs is one of the most exciting developments in the automotive industry’s history and is an essential step on its path to net zero.

“A truly sustainable industry will require an effective circular supply chain for these vehicles’ state-of-the-art batteries, and the opening of EMR’s new EV battery recycling centre is a huge step towards this goal. It comes after more than four years of research alongside our RECOVAS partners and two years of development at this site.

“As always with EMR, safety and environmental protection are at the heart of our approach to EV battery recycling. We use market-leading systems and software to de-risk the process of discharging the cells prior to recycling, and our high-voltage testing team is led by former Jaguar Land Rover EV battery technician Sanjay Kundu.

“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.”