Chinese battery company CATL is in talks to set up battery recycling operations in Europe.
It is in talks with European governments, including in Hungary, according to a report by Bloomberg. Balázs Szilágyi, CATL’s public affairs manager in Hungary, confirmed the talks to BEST but declined to comment.
Jason Chen, CATL’s regional operations chief, told Bloomberg European companies are potential partners, as well as CATL’s own Guangdong Brunp Recycling Technology Co.
The company said in August 2022 it would invest €7.34 billion to build its second European gigafactory in Debrecen in east Hungary – the country’s biggest greenfield investment in its history. It is expecting to start production of battery cells in the second half of 2025. The first phase capacity is 40GWh, rising to 100GWh in the second.
Last month, Mercedes-Benz said it was the world’s first car manufacturer to close the battery recycling loop with its own in-house facility. It claimed to be Europe’s first electric vehicle battery recycling plant with an integrated mechanical-hydrometallurgical process.
Its technology partner for the 2,500 tonnes-per-year battery recycling factory is Primobius, a joint venture between German plant and mechanical engineering company SMS group and Australian process technology developer Neometals.
