What happens to an EV battery when it reaches the end of its life? It's re-born!

The destiny of batteries is not landfill, but to be recycled to extract the critical minerals and go into new products.

Although in its infancy, this is an industry with an exciting future ahead of it. On reaching end-of-life, batteries can be discharged, dismantled and shredded to produce black mass, a rich source of critical minerals such as lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese. If profitably extracted and processed, we can de-risk the UK’s battery supply chain and support the creation of a self-sustaining, globally competitive industry.

In 2022, Altilium Clean Technology, a leading company operating in this space, secured funding, delivered through our own Automotive Transformation Fund, to advance it’s game-changing, proprietary recycling technology.

Listen to this interview with Dr Christian Marston, President and COO of Altilium, about how the company is pushing ahead with its hydrometallurgical extraction technique to recover over 95% of the critical metals found in black mass.

Why did BMW choose a team of British small businesses and academics to design the next-generation of inverters for its battery electric vehicles? Energy and transport journalist David James interviews David Bock, BMW Technical Lead on the £26 million @FutureBEV project, who explains it's down to the UK's expertise in power electronics.

“If you can make the parts simpler, you reduce the cost, you improve the reliability and you make it more accessible. And that was very important in the project", he said. It marked BMW’s transition to SiC-based power electronics in its future generations of battery electric vehicle (BEV) and laid the foundation for 100kW/l inverters, significantly exceeding industry targets.

The collaborative project not only delivered from an R&D perspective, but helped strengthen the UK supply chain in this emergent technology. As part of the consortium, academic and SME partners were able to demonstrate UK R&D capabilities, which impressed the BMW team in Munich.

As a result of the project, the University of Warwick has built a world-leading testing facility for power electronics and attracted interest from other OEMs, such as JLR. Custom Interconnect, which manufactures the inverter and power module, was also able to attract new customers thanks to its involvement on the project.

The design for the inverter was created by Lyra and Compound Semiconductor Applications (CSA) Catapult, strengthening the supply chain for power electronics in the UK.

The project has also been a platform for graduates and interns to develop their knowledge of power electronics, helping to build up their expertise for future roles and grow the industry. @FutureBEV was a £26 million project which received £13 million in government grant funding through the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK.

What is an e-turbo? What's a turbo doing in a hydrogen fuel cell powertrain?

Transport and energy journalist David James visits Laith Al-kazaz, Advanced Engineering Director at Cummins to learn about this technology, developed by a £20 million project to capture wasted energy and put it back into use.

Known as 'Trident', this project aimed to increase efficiency in hydrogen fuel cells through the development of an e-turbo, a vital component to help decarbonise heavy-duty vehicles.

The project has had wider impacts on Cummins’ conventional turbos, with projected savings of approximately 200 million tonnes of CO2 over the next 10 years.

Trident received £10 million in government grant funding through the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK.

Is the UK focusing its efforts in the right areas when it comes to e-motors technology and the UK supply chain?

Strategic Trends Manager at the APC, Chris Jones, speaks to our Stakeholder Engagement Lead, Clem Silverman, to give his thoughts and to discuss some of the key trends raised in our latest value chain report on e-motors. You can read the full report here:

Electric motors: Is the UK placing its bets wisely? (apcuk.co.uk)

It’s well known that lithium is a hugely important resource for battery technology. But what is it used for? Where does it come from?

Dr. Chris Jones from the APC’s Technology Trends team is back in the booth for this episode of the Road to Net Zero to answer some of these questions.

Nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) and lithium ferrophosphate (LFP) based chemistries are expected to be the two most popular cathode chemistries for the coming decade.

NMC comprises lithium, nickel, manganese and cobalt. Aluminium can be added to improve cycle life.

LFP comprises lithium and iron phosphate, while manganese can be added to improve energy density.

Both are lithium-ion chemistries and require a source of lithium.

Lithium salts can be obtained through two primary methods: mining hard rock, such as spodumene, and extracting from subterranean brine sources.

There are opportunities to find lithium in the UK as mapped by the British Geological Survey and Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre. The government has laid out its Critical Minerals Strategy to power the green industrial revolution, but with a lack of skills and need for more investment, does the country need to make

Once extracted, lithium requires refining. China currently dominates global lithium refining capacity, but again there is potential to expand facilities in the UK and Europe.

More information and data can be found in our Q3 Demand Report Q3-2023-Quarterly-Automotive-Demand-Forecast-Report.pdf (apcuk.co.uk) and subsequent quarterly demand reports.

Ford’s vehicle transmission factory at Halewood on Merseyside is being transformed to build electric power units for future Ford all-electric passenger and commercial vehicles in Europe.

Once complete this year, the line will produce over 400,000 units per year.

The site at Halewood was competing for investment with others in Europe, but with a grant and support by the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC)-managed Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF) from the UK Government, Ford decided to go ahead with the transformation here.

Ford’s total investment was raised to £380 million and reinforces confidence in the UK’s capability and its electric vehicle supply chain.

The ATF was created to electrify Britain’s automotive sector and protect its competitiveness in the global market. It offers the opportunity for feasibility studies into the viability of projects for scale-up, and capital grants to help de-risk and unlock further private investment.

Listen to this report to learn how the APC and ATF supported Ford UK on its electrification journey.

It comes following a number of collaborative R&D projects through the APC, working closely with Ford’s UK technical centre at the Ford Britain Dunton Campus in Essex. Two projects in particular – ViVID and E:PriME – played a major part in the creation of this product development centre at Halewood.

Find out about the Automotive Transformation Fund: https://www.apcuk.co.uk/automotive-transformation-fund/

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Imerys British Lithium has discovered 161 million tonnes of lithium ore in the granite beneath a Cornish clay mine, which could produce 20 kilotonnes of refined lithium per year for 30 years.

The UK Government’s Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF), managed by the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC), has supported a pilot processing plant at the same location.

Creating a local supply chain of critical materials for UK industry is important to meet rising demand, especially in electric vehicle battery manufacturing.

Data from the APC’s quarterly demand report in Q3 of 2023 shows that, in the UK alone, 59 kilotonnes of lithium will be required by the automotive sector by 2030.

The viability of this particular site has been supported by the APC’s Scale-up Readiness Validation (SuRV) and Feasibility Study competitions, funded by the Government’s ATF.

Recently, Imerys has taken an 80% stake in British Lithium, boosting the world’s first end-to-end pilot plant venture to produce sustainable battery-grade lithium in Cornwall.

Read more about this project: https://www.apcuk.co.uk/case-studies/british-lithium-mining-critical-materials-for-ev-batteries

Find out about the Automotive Transformation Fund: https://www.apcuk.co.uk/automotive-transformation-fund/

Follow us on social media LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/advanced-propulsion-centre-uk Twitter: https://twitter.com/theapcuk

What kind of journey has the automotive sector's been on over the past decade, and why might a 'UK Tesla' be a way off yet?

The second of our two-part podcast marking our 10-year anniversary. We're joined by three automotive experts, Bob Dover, Prof. Neville Jackson, and Prof. Colin Garner who sit on the APC's board.

2023 is an incredibly special year for us. Established in 2013 to bridge the gap between industry, academia and government, our mission remains to leverage the UK’s rich legacy for innovation and entrepreneurship and support the growth of a sustainable, domestic supply chain, focused on developing net-zero technology for a rapidly evolving market.