Marubeni invests in Altilium bid to build UK’s largest EV battery recycling plant

Clean tech specialist Altilium has secured a strategic £4 million investment from Japan’s Marubeni Corporation as part of its Series B funding round.

The funds will drive the development of UK-based Altilium’s flagship project in Teesside, where the company plans to establish the country’s largest electric vehicle (EV) battery recycling facility.

Once operational, the plant will have the capacity to process battery waste from 150,000 EVs annually, yielding 30,000 metric tons of low-carbon cathode active materials (CAM)—enough to fulfil 20% of the UK’s CAM demand by 2030.

This investment builds on an existing collaboration between Altilium and Japanese trading giant which owns Norton Way Motors, RRG Group and HPL car supermarkets through its Marubeni Auto Investment division.

This began with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed in 2023 agreeing to work together to develop a closed-loop EV battery recycling system in the UK.

Altilium CEO Kamran Mahdavi highlighted the significance of the partnership: "Marubeni’s investment strengthens our position as leaders in sustainable battery materials. Together, we are advancing a circular economy for the UK battery industry, reducing dependency on imported materials, and minimising the environmental impact of battery production.”

The Teesside facility will incorporate Altilium's proprietary EcoCathode technology, capable of recovering over 95% of key battery metals from end-of-life EV batteries. This innovative approach can reduce the cost of raw materials by up to 20% and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 74% compared to traditional sourcing methods.

With a legacy in the battery materials industry since 1985, Marubeni has been expanding its involvement in battery recycling, including ventures in the U.S.

Altilium’s Series B funding builds on the momentum of its earlier Series A round, which raised $12 million from SQM Lithium Ventures, part of Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile.