BPF Members Visit Car Battery Recycling Plant

The BPF’s Automotive Forum members held a meeting at Veolia’s electric vehicle battery recycling facility Minworth. The Automotive Forum meets regularly and is comprised members, UK carmakers, and representation from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). The Forum allows members to network with key people in the automotive supply chain the Forum also receives updates from SMMT on the current and forecasted state of the UK industry.

Veolia’s permitted and licensed battery recycling facility in Minworth arranges the safe collection and recycling of end-of-life Li-ion batteries. Set up in 2022 it marks the first step in developing recycling technology and treatment capacity of batteries, a critical expansion with an anticipated 350,000 tonnes of end-of-life electric vehicle batteries predicted to be in the country by 2040.

Members enjoyed a regular meeting with a report from SMMT. The report revealed that while the market share of Electric Vehicles is increasing at 26% this year, it is still below the UK's Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate - a legally binding law that requires vehicle manufacturers to ensure an increasing percentage of their annual new car and van sales are fully zero-emission. For 2026 the target is 33%. Commentators in the automotive sector feel that the ZEV targets will be unattainable unless a new OEM comes to the UK.

For commercial vehicles the picture looked a little blacker: manufacturing volumes falling -57.4%, extending a run of declines following tax rule changes that reclassified double‑cab pickups as cars for benefit‑in‑kind purposes. SMMT warns this is increasing costs for sectors such as construction and agriculture and risks delaying fleet renewal.

Following the meeting Veolia’s Business Manager, Ranjit Sira provided members with a in-depth look at operations and a tour of the site. The plant discharges and dismantles batteries before the mechanical and chemical separation recycling processes is completed. In addition, Veolia utilises its global network to establish a full circular economy solution in the next five years to produce battery precursors in Europe.