Electric car battery recovery project given £8.1m

Mint Innovation said it wanted to prove its black mass refining technology at a demonstration scale

A project to recover lithium, nickel and cobalt from used batteries has been awarded £8.1m to continue its research.

Mint Innovation, in collaboration with Jaguar Land Rover, LiBatt Recycling and the University of Warwick, said it wanted to use the money to demonstrate its technology.

The work, known as Project Comet, is receiving half the money from the government, as part of a £2.5bn commitment to support the transition to electric cars.

The three-year project is due to take place in the West Midlands, ending in 2028.

It has been estimated that the UK would produce 235 kilotons of electric vehicle battery waste by 2040, but Mint said it lacked industrial-scale recyclers to reuse the materials.

Dr Will Barker, CEO of Mint Innovation, said its aim was to "advance zero emission automative manufacturing at a faster pace".

The partnership said the technology would be used to ensure a "sustainable lifecycle for lithium-ion batteries, from end-of-life battery supply and processing through to integrating recycled materials into new batteries".