JLR Invests in Battery Recycling Tech

As plans for an efficient future continue, Jaguar Land Rover has heavily invested in battery recycling and manufacturing company Battery Resourcers through its venture funding arm, InMotion Ventures.

Battery Resourcers is a firm with a revolutionary closed-loop recycling program that resurrects a used battery from end-of-life to rebirth. As more and more battery-powered cars hit the road, more and more batteries will eventually pile up in junkyards on the other end if nothing is done – defeating the purpose of the exercise as EV batteries contain lots of reusable and rare earth materials. Recycling these materials into new batteries saves a lot of strip mining in far-flung corners of the world.

The proprietary recycling technology at Battery Resourcers works with different types of battery material. They also have technology that recovers and purifies the graphite in the batteries. Thus, most of the active material in the battery can be reused.

With the InMotion investment, Battery Resourcers can now build a commercial-scale factory to dismantle batteries. The intent is to process 10,000 tons of batteries a year. The money will also fund new production and analysis facilities in Michigan.

All the world’s automakers are trying to pivot their entire vehicle lineup to electric in record time, there are things to already start thinking about down the road. What happens to the batteries? How do we keep the raw materials flowing from around the world? How can we reuse as much of this material as possible, when the recycling processes don't exist or barely exist right now? With automakers all making big changes in the coming decade in the way they make cars, these are questions that need to get asked sooner than later -- and this step by Land Rover is just one of many being made by the auto industry.