Altilium has received £1 million in UK government funding through the DRIVE35 programme to accelerate development of a low-carbon solution for EV battery recycling. The grant will support a scalable prototype designed for safe and efficient collection and transport of end-of-life EV batteries.
Backed by the Department for Business and Trade, the project marks a key milestone in Altilium’s mission to build the UK’s first fully circular EV battery supply chain.
The system will integrate safe collection and logistics with Altilium’s proprietary EcoCathode™ technology, enabling spent battery packs to be shredded into black mass and refined into battery-grade materials including graphite, p-CAM, CAM, and metal salts.
COO, Dr Christian Marston, said the funding accelerates deployment of the circularity model, addressing barriers to high collection rates and helping retain critical raw materials within the UK.
The volume of retired EV batteries is expected to reach 1.4 million packs annually by 2040. With transportation accounting for 41% of total recycling costs and up to 3.5% of life-cycle GHG emissions, efficient logistics will be essential to scaling reuse and recovery.
Alongside the launch of recell.store – the UK’s first marketplace for old EV batteries – the project will support feedstock supply for Altilium’s expanding EV battery recycling operations. This includes the new ACT 3 facility in Plymouth, a scale-up plant set to recover valuable battery materials from 24,000 EVs annually, beginning in late 2026.
