The UK’s largest EV battery recycling business will open a new multi-million pound factory on Teesside, creating hundreds of jobs in the region.

Global firm Altilium Metals plans to open the new facility to transform battery waste from more than 150,000 electric vehicles into ‘Cathode Active Material’ – a key component of new batteries.

Between 100 and 200 high value jobs are said to be lined up before 2025 as well as hundreds more during its construction - with a projected 18-month build to get the facility up and running.

The announcement comes after Altilium Metals recently secured £3million in UK Government innovation funding to scale up its process to extract the metals from spent batteries, supporting an EV supply chain and circular economy.

Read more: Britishvolt saved from collapse after funding lifeline

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: “Electric vehicles have a big role to play to our low-carbon future, but there are still significant advances that need to be made to ensure their production is as clean and efficient as possible.

“Altilium Metals’ recycling technology can help play a massive part in this and I’m delighted to learn of its plans to come to our region. We’re seeing a lot of activity in EV innovation here, with other plans for lithium plants for battery production moving on swiftly.

“This latest announcement will help cement our expertise and status as a fantastic place to do business, helping to attract more ground-breaking firms in the cleaner, safer and healthier industries of tomorrow, while creating hundreds more good-quality, well-paid jobs.”

The Northern Echo:

The plant will be designed by Canadian engineering company Hatch - a top 20 international design firm - with a decision on the final location for the Teesside site expected to be made early in 2023.

Elsewhere in the North East, troubled battery firm Britishvolt secured short-term funding to allow it to continue to operate last week.

The company, which has been developing a £3.8 billion gigafactory in Blyth, Northumberland, said the fresh investment will enable it to “bridge over the coming weeks to a more secure funding position for the future”.

Kamran Mahdavi, CEO, Altilium Metals, said: “We are excited to announce Teesside as the preferred location for Altilium Metal’s first UK recycling plant, as we scale up our technology to help meet the growing demand for critical metals and move towards a circular economy for the battery value chain. The significant volume of end-of-life batteries and scrap from giga-factories expected in the UK requires mega-scale recycling solutions and we look forward to demonstrating the process at scale here on Teesside.”

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