Between ambitions and realities: Europe facing the challenges of battery recycling

The recent bankruptcy of Northvolt, the Swedish battery champion for electric vehicles, following that of Britishvolt in 2023, highlights the difficulties Europe faces in developing a sector that is nonetheless essential to its electrification and sovereignty ambitions. The emergence of a recycling industry requires massive investments, and funding technological innovation will be decisive to remain competitive on an international scale.

Yet the idea seems simple. At a time when the energy transition is accelerating, battery recycling in Europe is a major issue. With the rise of electric vehicles and energy storage devices, demand for lithium, cobalt and nickel is exploding. Between 2017 and 2022, global lithium consumption more than tripled, cobalt consumption increased by 70% and nickel by 40%, according to the IEA's "Global Critical Minerals Outlook" (May 2025).

Europe, however, depends entirely on imports of these rare metals, whose extraction, and especially refining, are largely controlled by China. Recycling therefore appears as a solution to strengthen European sovereignty: it would make it possible to secure the industry's supply while limiting the opening of new mines, whose local environmental impact could be considerable.

To reduce this dependence, the European Union has put in place strict regulations. Since 2023, the regulation on batteries and their waste sets precise targets for collection and recovery. From 2028, 50% of the lithium and 90% of the cobalt and nickel contained in batteries must be recycled. The text also imposes mandatory minimum levels of recycled content in new industrial batteries. This framework pursues a dual objective: to create an attractive recycling market for industry and to establish a virtuous cycle of production and consumption.

Technological and Economic issues

Battery recycling is a complex and costly process that poses several challenges. The first concerns the availability of raw material to supply the plants: there is indeed a gap of about ten years between a battery's production and its end of life, which forces the first recycling units to operate mainly with industrial waste.

In addition, the electric vehicle sector, which is still struggling to take off in Europe, is held back by competitiveness issues. Finally, uncertainty remains about the dominant battery chemistry: nickel-cobalt-manganese (NMC) or lithium iron phosphate (LFP). The residual value of these two types of batteries can differ by a factor of two or even three.

While the challenges remain considerable — as evidenced by the abandonment or postponement of financing for major projects led by Suez, Eramet, Stellantis and Orano — some players are nevertheless tackling these issues to advance the sector and commit to a virtuous circular economy.

In June 2025, the French start-up Battri inaugurated its first recycling site. Its objective: to extract the "black mass" from batteries, a black powder composed of minerals and metals. This material is the first link in the recycling process: it is then sold to industrial companies to be refined and reintegrated into the manufacture of new batteries.

Thanks to their optimized cost structures and operational responsiveness, start-ups easily adapt to the fluctuations of a still nascent market. However, they are not the only ones and listed companies are also developing this expertise. Veolia, a specialist in waste treatment, already has four sites capable of processing up to 30,000 tonnes of batteries — about 100,000 electric vehicle batteries — from collection to refining. Another example: Derichebourg, which announced in May a partnership with the Korean battery manufacturer LG.

Battery recycling is still in its infancy, but it already constitutes an essential link in the energy transition. Supporting companies in this challenge will be decisive.

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