Pioneering End-to-End Battery Recycling for a Circular European Future

Cylib is building the next generation of battery recycling—efficient, holistic, and climate-positive. Spun out of RWTH Aachen University and based in Germany, cylib is on a mission to close the loop on battery materials and power Europe’s green energy transition with low-emission, high-yield recycling.

Through its proprietary process, cylib enables the full recovery of critical elements from lithium-ion batteries—including lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, and graphite—with a verified 90% recycling efficiency and up to 80% lower carbon footprint compared to virgin extraction.

A Fully Integrated, Sustainable Recycling Solution:A Fully Integrated, Sustainable Recycling Solution:

Europe’s battery ecosystem demands scalable, local, and circular recycling to meet regulatory targets and reduce reliance on imported raw materials. cylib’s vertically integrated approach enables:

Localized recovery of all battery elements to reduce waste and maximize reuse, seamless integration into gigafactory ecosystems and OEM collection networks, fast, compliant, and modular deployment across the EU.

From pilot operations in Aachen to its first industrial-scale plant in Dormagen, cylib is leading the industrialization of sustainable battery recycling in Europe. Let’s close the loop—together.

Automation Powering the Battery Circular Economy

Bosch Rexroth is a global leader in drive and control technologies, delivering innovative automation solutions that are transforming the battery recycling landscape. Leveraging decades of engineering expertise and a deep commitment to sustainability, Bosch

Rexroth enables industrial-scale recycling with cutting-edge systems that enhance safety, efficiency, and circularity.
At the forefront of battery end-of-life innovation, Bosch Rexroth has developed a patented deep discharging automation solution—reducing the time required to safely neutralize EV battery cells from 24 hours to just 15 minutes. Their modular ctrlX AUTOMATION platform and TS 5 transfer system provide scalable, Industry 4.0-ready infrastructure for battery diagnostics, discharging, and dismantling.

With a focus on integrating energy recovery, minimizing fire risks, and enabling rapid scaling across multiple battery formats and recycling facilities, Bosch Rexroth is a critical partner for recyclers, OEMs, and gigafactories seeking to build safer, greener, and more profitable battery value chains.

Intelligent Conveyor Systems Enhancing Efficiency in EV Battery Disassembly

KRUPS Automation GmbH specializes in tailor-made conveyor systems and assembly automation solutions designed for high-complexity production environments—including electric vehicle component assembly lines and testing workflows. With state of the art in-house manufacturing capabilities, controls integration, and global reach across Europe, the U.S., and China, KRUPS delivers complete turnkey conveyor systems—from design and fabrication to assembly and service.

As automated dismantling and sorting become essential for scalable, safe, and compliant battery recycling in Europe, KRUPS offers foundational experience and solutions in conveyance technology that enhance performance, adaptability, and sustainability.

Pioneering Automated Battery Disassembly for Safer, Smarter, and More Circular Recycling

Circu Li-ion is transforming the economics and safety of battery recycling through robotic automation. As Europe’s leading provider of automated disassembly and diagnostics, Circu Li-ion empowers OEMs, recyclers, and battery manufacturers to recover more value from EV and micromobility batteries—faster, safer, and with unmatched precision.

At the heart of Circu Li-ion’s offering is its scalable robotic disassembly technology, developed in Luxembourg and deployed at their certified facility in Kuppenheim, Germany. Whether through Disassembly as a Service (DaaS) or Machine-as-a-Service, Circu Li-ion delivers modular, plug-and-play solutions for handling end-of-life battery streams with maximum traceability and compliance.

As automated recycling becomes critical to scaling Europe’s circular battery economy, Circu Li-ion is setting the standard for efficient and regulation-ready pre-treatment. Their robotics-driven platform enables battery stakeholders to reduce transport emissions, increase material recovery, and unlock the next generation of second-life and recycling pathways.

Circu Li-ion represents the future of battery pre-processing—one where automation drives impact, and disassembly is no longer a bottleneck.

Driving Circular Battery Innovation Through Applied Research & Regional Ecosystem Development

LUT University is a leading Finnish public research institution with campuses in Lappeenranta and Lahti. It offers multidisciplinary expertise across engineering, energy systems, chemical engineering, and sustainability sciences—all underpinned by a strong focus on circular economy and renewable technologies.

Battery R&D Cluster in Southeast Finland
LUT spearheads a project aiming to build two regional RDI environments for measurement, testing, and battery recycling innovation. These environments support industrial symbiosis across the emerging battery materials sector in Southeast Finland and promote reuse of active battery components through comparison of recycled versus virgin electrode properties.

BATCircle – Circular Ecosystem for Battery Metals
LUT plays a central role in the BATCircle 2.0 initiative—part of a consortium of universities, research centers, and industry partners—developing advanced metallurgical recycling processes across the battery value chain. Their work includes solvent extraction and ion exchange for direct lithium recovery and refining of multimetal leachates to cathode-grade materials.

Novel Hydrometallurgical Processing Routes
In a 2025 dissertation by Tobias Wesselborg, LUT researchers introduced two innovative hydrometallurgical methods—solvent extraction and ion exchange—for high-yield recovery of lithium, nickel, and cobalt from battery waste, significantly improving metal recovery efficiency.

Lifecycle Extension through Reuse Versus Recycling
Under the SCI-MAT research platform, LUT investigates the critical trade-offs between reusing vehicle batteries versus recycling. Their work—including the EU-backed REINFORCE project—focuses on extending battery lifespans, optimizing disassembly, and enhancing circular value chain sustainability.

Why LUT University Matters to the Battery Circular Economy:

CeLLife specializes in advanced battery diagnostics, leveraging innovative deep-tech solutions across manufacturing, recycling, and second-life applications. Our patented AI-driven Electrical Fingerprint™ (EFP™) technology enables rapid assessment of battery health, chemistry, and safety in seconds, with lab-grade accuracy. This enables recyclers to identify hazardous modules, accelerate discharge processes, and improve operational safety.

By recognizing battery chemistry instantly, CeLLife helps maximize black mass value through efficient material separation, increasing recovery yields and profitability. Our technology also enables precise sorting of incoming modules, identifying batteries suitable for second-life use and extending their lifecycle.

Designed for industrial-scale operations, CeLLife’s solution delivers fast, data-driven decisions with a single test. Already validated through successful projects with leading industry players, the company is now deploying its solutions across the Nordics.

CeLLife empowers recycling and reuse operators to increase efficiency, reduce costs, and unlock greater value from end-of-life batteries.

Accelerating Battery Circularity with Hyper-Pure, On-Site Recycling Technology

Green Li-ion is redefining how the world recycles lithium-ion batteries. With proprietary modular systems that deliver end-to-end recycling in a single plant, Green Li-ion enables battery manufacturers, recyclers, and gigafactories to transform black mass into battery-grade precursor materials—on-site, in under 12 hours.
Headquartered in Singapore with a growing global footprint, Green Li-ion’s GLMC™ (Green Li-ion Modular Cell) technology is the first of its kind to fully regenerate lithium-ion battery materials into precursor cathode active material (pCAM) at commercial scale, in a safe, energy-efficient, and scalable way.

Green Li-ion supports the EV battery supply chain with:

With a proven track record in the U.S., Asia, and now expanding across Europe, Green Li-ion is bridging the gap between battery waste and circular value. As battery volumes grow and regulatory pressure mounts, centralized recycling is facing limits in cost, capacity, and agility.

Green Li-ion empowers manufacturers and recyclers to localize closed-loop recovery.
Green Li-ion is proud to support this year’s Summit as a pioneer of next-generation recycling systems. Our mission—to decentralize, decarbonize, and democratize battery material recovery—aligns with Europe’s drive toward energy sovereignty, sustainable mobility, and a circular economy.

We look forward to engaging with OEMs, recyclers, policymakers, and battery producers to advance practical, scalable solutions that meet both economic and environmental goals.

Empowering Battery Circularity Through Global EPR Compliance and Takeback Services

As one of the most established names in Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) compliance, Landbell Group’s European Recycling Platform (ERP) is helping shape the future of sustainable battery recycling.

With operations across 40 Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs) in 18 countries, ERP enables manufacturers, importers, and brands to meet their obligations for waste batteries, electronics (WEEE), packaging—and now textiles—through harmonized compliance, collection, and recycling systems.

With over 145 million kg of batteries managed and a proven track record in simplifying the complexities of EPR legislation, ERP is uniquely positioned to support the growing demand for lithium-ion battery recycling infrastructure in the electric vehicle and micromobility sectors.

What ERP Offers to the EV Battery Ecosystem

The summit is about solutions—and Landbell Group’s ERP is delivering them at scale. From small-volume importers to multinational OEMs, ERP provides the operational backbone that ensures every battery on the European market can be traced, recovered, and recycled sustainably

Driving Circular Battery Innovation Through Applied Research & Regional Ecosystem Development

LUT University is a leading Finnish public research institution with campuses in Lappeenranta and Lahti. It offers multidisciplinary expertise across engineering, energy systems, chemical engineering, and sustainability sciences—all underpinned by a strong focus on circular economy and renewable technologies.

Battery R&D Cluster in Southeast Finland
LUT spearheads a project aiming to build two regional RDI environments for measurement, testing, and battery recycling innovation. These environments support industrial symbiosis across the emerging battery materials sector in Southeast Finland and promote reuse of active battery components through comparison of recycled versus virgin electrode properties.

BATCircle – Circular Ecosystem for Battery Metals
LUT plays a central role in the BATCircle 2.0 initiative—part of a consortium of universities, research centers, and industry partners—developing advanced metallurgical recycling processes across the battery value chain. Their work includes solvent extraction and ion exchange for direct lithium recovery and refining of multimetal leachates to cathode-grade materials.

Novel Hydrometallurgical Processing Routes
In a 2025 dissertation by Tobias Wesselborg, LUT researchers introduced two innovative hydrometallurgical methods—solvent extraction and ion exchange—for high-yield recovery of lithium, nickel, and cobalt from battery waste, significantly improving metal recovery efficiency.

Lifecycle Extension through Reuse Versus Recycling
Under the SCI-MAT research platform, LUT investigates the critical trade-offs between reusing vehicle batteries versus recycling. Their work—including the EU-backed REINFORCE project—focuses on extending battery lifespans, optimizing disassembly, and enhancing circular value chain sustainability.

Why LUT University Matters to the Battery Circular Economy:

Pioneering Scalable, Safe, and Circular Battery Recycling in Europe

Hydrovolt is on a mission to make battery waste a thing of the past. As one of Europe’s leading industrial battery recyclers, Hydrovolt delivers innovative, low-emission solutions to recover critical materials from EV and industrial batteries—ensuring a battery can become a battery, again and again.

Operating one of the largest and most advanced battery recycling plants in Europe (Fredrikstad, Norway), Hydrovolt combines automation, safety, and environmental performance to recover and produce sustainable secondary raw materials. With the world’s most automated battery discharging and dismantling line, powered by renewable energy and residual energy from used batteries, Hydrovolt sets a new benchmark for safe, efficient, and climate-friendly recycling.

Key Differentiators

Hydrovolt’s industrial-scale capabilities and commitment to innovation make it a pivotal player in advancing Europe’s battery circularity. By joining the Summit, Hydrovolt contributes a bold vision for a truly circular battery economy—and the proven technical expertise to make it happen.

Accelerating Battery Circularity with Hyper-Pure, On-Site Recycling Technology

Green Li-ion is redefining how the world recycles lithium-ion batteries. With proprietary modular systems that deliver end-to-end recycling in a single plant, Green Li-ion enables battery manufacturers, recyclers, and gigafactories to transform black mass into battery-grade precursor materials—on-site, in under 12 hours.
Headquartered in Singapore with a growing global footprint, Green Li-ion’s GLMC™ (Green Li-ion Modular Cell) technology is the first of its kind to fully regenerate lithium-ion battery materials into precursor cathode active material (pCAM) at commercial scale, in a safe, energy-efficient, and scalable way.

Green Li-ion supports the EV battery supply chain with:

With a proven track record in the U.S., Asia, and now expanding across Europe, Green Li-ion is bridging the gap between battery waste and circular value. As battery volumes grow and regulatory pressure mounts, centralized recycling is facing limits in cost, capacity, and agility.

Green Li-ion empowers manufacturers and recyclers to localize closed-loop recovery.
Green Li-ion is proud to support this year’s Summit as a pioneer of next-generation recycling systems. Our mission—to decentralize, decarbonize, and democratize battery material recovery—aligns with Europe’s drive toward energy sovereignty, sustainable mobility, and a circular economy.

We look forward to engaging with OEMs, recyclers, policymakers, and battery producers to advance practical, scalable solutions that meet both economic and environmental goals.

Empowering Battery Circularity Through Global EPR Compliance and Takeback Services

As one of the most established names in Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) compliance, Landbell Group’s European Recycling Platform (ERP) is helping shape the future of sustainable battery recycling.

With operations across 40 Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs) in 18 countries, ERP enables manufacturers, importers, and brands to meet their obligations for waste batteries, electronics (WEEE), packaging—and now textiles—through harmonized compliance, collection, and recycling systems.

With over 145 million kg of batteries managed and a proven track record in simplifying the complexities of EPR legislation, ERP is uniquely positioned to support the growing demand for lithium-ion battery recycling infrastructure in the electric vehicle and micromobility sectors.

What ERP Offers to the EV Battery Ecosystem

The summit is about solutions—and Landbell Group’s ERP is delivering them at scale. From small-volume importers to multinational OEMs, ERP provides the operational backbone that ensures every battery on the European market can be traced, recovered, and recycled sustainably

Data-Driven Circularity for the Battery Economy

FEV Consulting stands at the forefront of sustainable mobility strategy, helping automotive OEMs, suppliers, and policymakers navigate the complex and fast-evolving battery ecosystem.

Leveraging deep technical expertise and a strategic consulting mindset, FEV Consulting empowers its clients to unlock the full economic and environmental potential of EV battery recycling and reuse.

At the heart of FEV’s thought leadership is CycleBat—a proprietary forecasting and cost-analysis tool designed to model the financial, regulatory, and design impacts across the EV battery lifecycle. From predicting future end-of-life battery volumes to optimizing recycling logistics, CycleBat enables OEMs to move beyond compliance and turn Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) into a competitive advantage.

By combining systems-level thinking with detailed technical modeling, FEV Consulting is shaping a more profitable and circular EV future.

Driving Policy and Partnerships for a Circular EV Battery Future

AEDIVE is Spain’s leading business association uniting the complete value chain of electric mobility—including EV manufacturers, charging infrastructure providers, battery and cell producers, energy operators, and recycling stakeholders. Established in 2010, AEDIVE brings together over 800 members across industry, services, and R&D, advocating for policy, standardization, and circular economy principles in the Spanish and broader European context.

Relevance to EV Battery Recycling & Circular Economy

Full-Service Lithium-Ion Battery Logistics, Simplified

LiBCycle is redefining how the battery industry manages the growing complexity of lithium-ion battery logistics.

Headquartered in Munich, LiBCycle provides end-to-end, legally compliant transport and packaging solutions for used and defective EV and industrial batteries. From on-site classification to custom battery boxes, from safe loading to international dangerous goods transport and interim storage—LiBCycle takes the weight of battery logistics off your shoulders.

With regulatory pressure mounting and e-mobility surging, manufacturers and recyclers alike face serious challenges in safely moving, storing, and preparing batteries for second life or recycling. LiBCycle solves these pain points with an innovative, standardized solution that combines high-tech packaging, automation-friendly processes, and full-service operations.

Why LiBCycle?

Perfect for: OEMs, recyclers, service centers, energy storage providers, micromobility operators, and battery manufacturers facing growing EoL battery volumes and regulatory complexity.

OEM‑Led Circular Innovation with Reworked & Second‑Life Battery Systems

Daimler Truck is a global leader in commercial vehicle manufacturing, pioneering strategies that integrate circular economy principles into the lifecycle of electric commercial vehicles. Through sustainability initiatives and innovation hubs like the Competence Center for Zero-Emission Mobility in Mannheim (Battery Technology Center), Daimler Truck emphasises reconditioning, reuse, and responsible recycling of high-voltage batteries. This approach reduces resource consumption while maintaining high-quality performance standards.

Circular Battery Strategy & Offerings

Daimler Truck offers an end-to-end OEM-integrated circular model that includes remanufacturing, second-life deployment, and high-efficiency recycling. By retaining quality through reworked batteries, prioritizing reused capacity, and ensuring industry-level recycling standards, they provide an industrial blueprint for scaling circularity in commercial EV battery systems—supporting sustainability, cost-efficiency, and regulatory alignment.

Direct Recycling of Functional Battery Materials for a Low-Carbon Circular Loop

Founded in 2022 as a spin-off of Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC and based in Würzburg, CellCircle is on a mission to create a sustainable circular economy for lithium-ion battery cells in Europe. Led by battery expert Dr. Andreas Bittner, the startup has developed an innovative direct recycling process that non-destructively separates and regenerates functional materials—such as cathode active material and conductive carbon—for immediate reuse, bypassing energy-intensive metallurgical conversion steps.

Compared to traditional recycling, CellCircle’s approach halves energy use, chemical input, and CO₂ emissions, offering high-purity secondary material suitable for cell production while dramatically improving resource efficiency. They also provide consulting services—including feasibility studies, design-for-recycling advice, and lifecycle assessments—to companies seeking recycling solutions that exceed EU Battery Regulation compliance and support post-disassembly reuse pathways.

CellCircle is a consortium partner in the EU‑funded ReUse project under Horizon Europe, focused on low-value LFP battery recycling. They lead the lifecycle sustainability analysis work package, contributing to automated sorting and enabling direct reuse validation for next-generation battery technologies. As a finalist in Bavaria’s Energy Start-Up Bayern 2024 awards, CellCircle is gaining recognition for its disruptive, scalable recycling model.

CellCircle offers a truly circular model by directly regenerating functional battery-grade materials with minimal energy and chemical inputs. Their technology and advisory services help cell manufacturers and recyclers integrate reuse loops, lower emissions, and meet recycled content mandates. Positioned at the frontier of direct recycling innovation, CellCircle drives Europe toward a high-purity, efficient, and resilient battery materials economy.

Industrial Lithium & Graphite Recycling for a Circular Battery Economy

Tozero is a Munich-based climate-tech startup founded in 2022, with a mission to transform lithium‑ion battery waste into a sustainable resource. With proprietary hydrometallurgical technology, they recover lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, and graphite from black mass—achieving over 80% recovery for lithium and graphite while reducing CO₂ emissions by around 70% compared to mining.

Operating Europe’s first commercial pilot recycling plant since 2023, Tozero made history by delivering battery-grade recycled lithium to customers in March 2024, and recently demonstrated 100% recycled graphite in anode cell tests with industrial-scale performance parity to virgin material.

The company is now developing a commercial demonstration plant at Gendorf Chemical Park, set to begin operations later in 2025 ahead of full-scale production from 2026—supported by EU EIC funding and strategic industry partners.

Key Capabilities & Impact:

Tozero accelerates the circular battery ecosystem in Europe, offering a true recycling engine that meets regulatory goals, strengthens supply resilience, and drives decarbonization through high‑value material recovery.

Navigating Circular Battery Strategy with Digital Product Passports

phiyond by adelphi, a spin-off consultancy from adelphi Consult, is dedicated to guiding businesses through sustainability transformation, with deep expertise in resource circularity, climate strategy, and the EU regulatory landscape. As part of Europe’s leading think‑and‑do tank for sustainability, phiyond integrates systemic knowledge, regulatory insight, and business advisory to help companies operate responsibly within planetary boundaries.

Core Services Supporting Battery Circular Economy

phiyond specializes in Resources & Circular Economy, offering support in deploying the Circular Transition Indicators (CTI) framework—developed by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. CTIs help firms map material flows, assess reuse potential, and align performance to ESRS and EU reporting standards.

They also offer Digital Product Passport (DPP) readiness support, advising organizations on how to implement traceability solutions required by the EU Battery Regulation. This includes masterclasses, strategic assessment, and operational planning to leverage DPPs as circularity enablers rather than compliance burdens.

phiyond’s broader advisory extends to sustainability transformation—including circular business model design, ESG frameworks, sustainability reporting (CSRD readiness), carbon accounting, and decarbonization roadmaps. They integrate climate strategy with resource planning to help clients meet global and EU sustainability mandates.

phiyond by adelphi helps battery ecosystem stakeholders—from OEMs to recyclers—translate regulation into strategy. By operationalizing CTIs and DPPs, they enable transparency across battery lifecycles, support compliance with recycled content mandates, and help design circular business models that align with evolving EU law. Their advisory complements technology-focused recycling firms by ensuring circularity is embedded at the organizational level, making them a strategic partner in building traceable, compliant, and resilient battery material systems.

OEM-Driven Battery Circularity Strategy & Innovation

Ford Otosan, a joint venture between Ford Motor Company and Koç Holding, is one of Europe’s preeminent commercial vehicle manufacturers, operating in Turkey and Romania with over 2,000 R&D employees and a production capacity exceeding 700,000 vehicles in 2022.

Strategic Focus on EV Battery Circular Economy

Sustainability and Circularity Leadership

Why Ford Otosan Matters to the Battery Recycling Ecosystem

Ford Otosan offers a unique OEM-integrated approach to battery circularity—bridging vehicle manufacturing, eco-design, and industrial-scale recycling strategy. Its roadmap ensures that materials recovered from end-of-life batteries feed directly back into battery-grade raw supply. Leveraging R&D, internal cross-functional collaboration, and EU-backed research projects, Ford Otosan is emerging as a leader in OEM-enabled circularity adoption for EV battery ecosystems.

Compliance‑Driven Take‑Back & Circular Infrastructure for Battery Systems

GRS Service GmbH manages the operational activities of Stiftung GRS Batterien, Germany’s largest manufacturer-owned battery take-back system, serving over 4,000 producers and distributors and managing more than 170,000 collection points nationwide.

As a certified Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO) under the German Battery Act (BattG), GRS ensures member compliance with EU Battery Regulation and national EPR requirements—providing container logistics, regulated waste collection, sorting, and environmentally-responsible recycling solutions for both portable and industrial batteries.

GRS provides the foundational infrastructure for circularity in battery systems by bridging regulatory compliance, consumer access, and materials recovery. As Germany aligns with stricter EU battery laws, GRS ensures producers meet mandated collection and recycling targets—and plays a crucial R&D role in developing safer and more efficient pathways for lithium-ion recycling.

Digital and Manufacturing Innovation Powering Battery Circularity

Siemens is a global engineering and technology leader fueling the electrification and decarbonization of industries through digitalization, automation, and circularity—playing a key role in EV battery production and recycling ecosystems. With deep expertise across manufacturing, systems engineering, and digital infrastructure, Siemens helps shape sustainable battery supply chains and circular lifecycle strategies.

Contribution to EV Battery Circular Economy

Siemens uniquely bridges industrial digitalization with circular economy imperatives—integrating automation, data analytics, digital twin-based traceability, and systems engineering to build efficient, sustainable battery supply chains. Its platforms and expertise enable OEMs, recyclers, and regulators to tackle lifecycle transparency, eco‑design compliance, and scalable recycling deployment.

Pan‑European Battery & e‑Waste Compliance Network Enabling Circular Systems

Founded in 2003, EARN (European Advanced Recycling Network) is operated by EARN Elektroaltgeräte Service GmbH—a consortium formed by leading recycling firms including Coolrec (Netherlands), Electrocycling (Germany), and Indumetal (Spain). Its mission is to provide full-service, pan-European compliance and take-back infrastructure for WEEE (electronic waste), industrial and portable batteries, packaging, and textiles.

Core Capabilities & Services
EARN delivers one-stop EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) solutions across all EU member states, supporting manufacturers and importers in meeting obligations under the WEEE Directive, Batteries Directive, EU Battery Regulation, and Packaging/ Textiles Directives. Their services include:

Strategic Importance to the Battery Circular Economy

EARN provides foundational compliance infrastructure for companies placing batteries on the European market—offering scalable access to legally authorized collection and recycling channels. By simplifying regulatory obligations and leveraging local treatment facilities, EARN enables producers to ensure traceability and meet recovery targets as mandated by the EU Battery Regulation. As Europe increases recycled content mandates, EARN’s structured network ensures that battery-containing products are efficiently routed into responsible recycling and resource recovery systems.

Market Intelligence & Strategic Insight Enabling Battery Circularity

Rho Motion is a UK-based specialist providing actionable market intelligence, bespoke consultancy, and industry events across the EV battery and energy transition ecosystem—including battery recycling, raw materials, charging infrastructure, and secondary markets.

Acquired by Benchmark Mineral Intelligence in June 2024 for approximately $50 million, Rho Motion retains its London identity while now contributing to a broader global dataset spanning “mine to grid” value chains.

Key Offerings for Battery Circular Economy

Why Rho Motion Matters to EV Battery Recycling

Lifecycle Engineering & Strategic Research for Battery Circularity

The Chair of Production Engineering of E‑Mobility Components (PEM) at RWTH Aachen University, led by Prof. Achim Kampker, is a leading academic institution researching battery technology from production and design to disassembly and recycling in pursuit of fully circular battery systems. PEM integrates digitalization, sustainable materials engineering, and lifecycle analysis to drive innovation across the EV battery value chain.

Core Research & Services

PEM undertakes multi-disciplinary research covering battery disassembly automation, direct recycling, and material recovery optimization. Its projects include consortium-led studies on recycling approaches and ecological impact assessments, aiming to identify scalable pathways to high-efficiency resource reuse. PEM has documented that recycling EV batteries in Europe remains economically unprofitable under current conditions—where transportation and export of black mass represent up to 70 % of recycling costs—highlighting the urgent need for locally-refined capacity and strategic intervention.

Strategic Alignment with Circular Battery Economy

PEM’s unique convergence of engineering expertise, process modeling, and policy-informed research makes it an anchor partner for battery recyclers, manufacturers, and regulators. Their work exposes critical cost and technological gaps in Europe’s recycling infrastructure, while offering data-based solutions to advance effective and high-value closed-loop battery systems.

Low-Emission Innovation for the Battery Circular Economy

Duesenfeld GmbH is a pioneering force in sustainable lithium-ion battery recycling, offering an innovative and environmentally responsible approach tailored to meet the growing demands of the electric vehicle (EV) industry. Based in Germany, Duesenfeld has positioned itself at the forefront of circular economy practices, developing proprietary technologies that drastically reduce the carbon footprint of battery recycling while maximizing the recovery of valuable raw materials.

With a process that eliminates the need for melting or smelting, Duesenfeld’s low-emission, mechanical-chemical recycling method achieves recovery rates of up to 96% for key materials such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, copper, and graphite. This approach also significantly reduces energy use and CO₂ emissions, making it one of the most environmentally friendly recycling processes available in Europe.

At the core of Duesenfeld’s offering is a mobile and scalable recycling solution, enabling decentralized processing of EV batteries closer to the source. This mobility reduces logistical costs, enhances safety, and improves the overall efficiency of the battery value chain. Their “Direct Recycling” strategy retains more of the functional material structure, making re-use and closed-loop recycling economically and environmentally viable.

Key Contributions to the EV Battery Recycling Industry:

As the EV market accelerates across Europe, Duesenfeld remains a key enabler of sustainable electrification—helping the industry transition toward a cleaner, circular, and more resource-efficient future.

Second-Life Battery Storage Enabling Circular Energy Solutions

Voltfang, headquartered in Aachen and founded as a spin‑off of RWTH Aachen University in 2019–2020, pioneers the reuse of electric vehicle (EV) battery modules by repurposing them into high-performance stationary battery storage systems. These solutions give EV batteries a “second life,” extending their usable lifespan by up to 10–15 years with a residual capacity of ≥ 80 %—offering both sustainability and economic efficiency.

Core Offerings & Innovation

Voltfang exemplifies practical circularity in the EV battery ecosystem. By transforming decommissioned automotive batteries into high-value stationary storage, they fuse sustainability with technological innovation—reducing raw material imports, lowering CO₂ emissions, and powering Europe’s energy transition with scalable, climate-positive infrastructure.

Industrial-Scale Hydrometallurgy Driving Closed-Loop Battery Materials

Founded in 2020 and based in Poland, ELION Circular is developing an innovative, scalable hydrometallurgical recycling process to transform waste lithium-ion batteries and production scrap into high-purity raw materials—recovering up to ~90% of lithium, cobalt, and nickel from black mass. ELION addresses the critical shortage of industrial recycling infrastructure in Europe by validating its proprietary technology at demonstration scale, with plans for rapid expansion into commercial deployment.

Circular Recycling Technology

ELION Circular tackles two foundational challenges in Europe’s battery strategy: the lack of domestic recycling capacity and reliance on imported raw materials. Their low-footprint, high-efficiency hydrometallurgical process enables the return of valuable metals into European supply chains—supporting compliance with the EU Battery Regulation and helping OEMs meet future recycled content mandates. With industrial scale deployment planned, ELION is poised to become a leading provider of vertically integrated battery materials recovery in the European energy transition.

Strategic Intelligence & Tech‑Driven Innovation for Battery Circularity

Deloitte combines global market intelligence, regulatory insight, and technology-led strategy to support a sustainable, circular future for electric vehicle (EV) battery systems. Through leading publications in partnership with CAS (Chemical Abstracts Service), Deloitte provides rigorous analysis of market dynamics, technological innovation, and policy drivers shaping the lithium‑ion battery recycling sector.

Key Services & Insights:

Why Deloitte Matters to EV Battery Recycling:

Deloitte brings multidisciplinary advisory capability—spanning sustainability, technology, supply chain, and regulatory strategy—to help industry stakeholders develop evidence-based roadmaps, design resilient infrastructures, and align investments with both EU policy targets and global decarbonization goals.

Data-Driven Intelligence for Battery Supply Chain Resilience

Project Blue delivers strategic market intelligence across the full value chain of critical battery raw materials—empowering the electric vehicle (EV) and recycling industries with data to drive resilience, transparency, and sustainability.

Specializing in key inputs such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, and manganese, Project Blue provides detailed demand forecasting, cost curve modeling, ESG risk analysis, and scenario planning for both primary supply and secondary (recycled) sources. With growing pressure on supply security and environmental performance, the company’s insights are instrumental in helping recyclers, OEMs, battery manufacturers, and policymakers anticipate disruptions and design closed-loop solutions.

Engineering Scalable Solutions for the Circular Battery Economy

Hatch is a global engineering, project management, and consulting firm that partners with industry leaders to develop, scale, and optimize sustainable solutions for the entire battery value chain—from raw materials extraction to battery recycling and reuse.

With deep roots in metallurgy, hydrometallurgy, and pyrometallurgy, Hatch is uniquely equipped to support the emerging infrastructure needs of the electric vehicle (EV) sector. The company provides technical expertise and full lifecycle project delivery for battery-grade material production, black mass processing, hydrometallurgical refining, and end-of-life battery recycling.

In the EV battery recycling space, Hatch helps design and implement advanced material recovery facilities, enabling clients to recover high-value metals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, and manganese at commercial scale. Their work spans feasibility studies, front-end engineering design (FEED), permitting support, and EPCM (engineering, procurement, and construction management) services—ensuring safe, compliant, and cost-effective project execution.

Key Services Supporting EV Battery Recycling:

Low-Carbon Recycled Graphite for Circular EV Battery Supply

Vianode is the pioneering provider of sustainable synthetic anode graphite, engineered to deliver ultra-low carbon intensity and support circularity in the EV battery supply chain. Headquartered in Norway, the company operates Europe’s most sustainable full-scale anode graphite plant—Via ONE in Herøya—which began production in late 2024 with a climate footprint of just 1.9 kg CO₂e per kg graphite—over 90% lower than conventional producers.

Circularity & Recycling Innovation

Technical & Sustainability Highlights

Strategic Impact in EV Battery Circular Economy

Vianode stands at the intersection of circular innovation, industrial-scale production, and sustainability leadership. By developing recycled and ultra-low carbon graphite especially for EV batteries, it positions itself as a critical enabler of transparent, high-performance, and sustainable battery systems.

AI‑Enabled Upcycling of EV Batteries into High‑Purity Supply

Bridge Green Upcycle is a New York–headquartered cleantech startup transforming lithium‑ion battery end-of-life and manufacturing scrap into valuable precursor materials—without requiring new mining. It stands out for combining AI diagnostics, mechanical processing, and chemical extraction in a “clean, circular, and cost-effective” workflow.

Core Innovation & Process Flow:

Strategic Milestones & Market Relevance

Why Bridge Green Upcycle Matters to EV Battery Circularity

Bridge Green Upcycle merges technical innovation with a compelling circular economy strategy—helping accelerate a more sustainable, traceable, and low‑carbon supply chain for critical battery materials. Let me know if you’d like a version tailored for brochure copy, signage, or speaker introductions.

Global Intelligence Platform for Battery Lifecycle and Circular Markets

Circular Energy Storage (CES) is a UK-based market intelligence firm specializing in the global tracking and analysis of lithium-ion battery flows—from production and use to reuse, recycling, and material recovery. Through its data-driven platform, CES Online, the company delivers actionable insights on end-of-life volumes, scrap generation, reuse applications, secondary raw materials, and recycling infrastructure across more than 80 countries.

Core Platform Capabilities (CES Online):

Strategic Insights for the EV Battery Recycling Sector:

As battery demand accelerates globally, CES empowers stakeholders to make grounded, data-informed decisions about infrastructure deployment, material recovery planning, and investment prioritization. By illuminating the complex flow of batteries from use to reuse to recycling—and quantifying the real circularity gap—Circular Energy Storage ensures that Europe’s and the world’s electrification transition is built on scalable, traceable, and sustainable foundations.

Research-Driven Circularity in Lithium‑Ion Battery Recycling

ZSW is a leading applied research institute based in Stuttgart and Ulm, with over 30 years of expertise in battery technology, renewable energy, hydrogen systems, and circular economy research. Its battery division—comprising more than 100 dedicated scientists—adopts a holistic approach spanning materials research, cell production, testing, systems integration, and recycling.

Relevance to EV Battery Recycling & Circular Economy:

Core Contributions & Capabilities

As Europe’s EV industry evolves, ZSW stands at the intersection of scientific innovation and industrial application. Their work not only demonstrates the feasibility of high‑quality, materials‑efficient recycling, but also helps inform policy frameworks and industrial standards for a truly circular battery future.

Engineering a Regulatory & Digital Foundation for Battery Circularity

acatech is Germany’s premier national academy of science and engineering, acting as the strategic voice of technology-driven policymaking and innovation frameworks. Through its Circular Economy Initiative Deutschland (CEID), acatech brings together stakeholders from academia, industry, and civil society to develop holistic roadmaps for circularity—particularly in EV traction batteries—and to translate complex technical insights into actionable public policy and industrial standards.

Core Capabilities & Strategic Roles

acatech leads a 21-member working group on traction battery life-cycle management, producing the pivotal CEID roadmap Resource-Efficient Battery Life Cycles – Driving Electric Mobility with the Circular Economy. This work defines strategic pathways toward a circular vision by 2030, outlining interventions on design for dismantlability, second-life deployment, digital product passports, and infrastructure harmonization.

The academy is a lead participant in the Battery Pass Consortium, which develops the technical foundations for the EU Digital Product Passport (DPP) for batteries. From February 2027, all EV and industrial traction batteries >2 kWh sold in the EU must include a DPP—allowing for traceability of carbon footprint, chemistry, service life details, and dismantling instructions.

acatech also contributes to critical guidance on carbon accounting and life cycle assessment methodologies under the EU Battery Regulation. Its publications on the Cut-off and Circular Footprint Formula approaches support consistent calculation of recycling-stage emissions and recycled content—essential for regulated environmental performance reporting.

Why acatech Matters to EV Battery Recycling & Circular Economy

acatech strengthens the systemic and regulatory infrastructure underpinning battery circularity in Europe. By shaping policy alignment, standardizing digital traceability, and guiding lifecycle accounting methodologies, the academy ensures that digital, industrial, and compliance systems evolve in tandem—with circular design and low-carbon recycling at their core. Its work enables industry, governments, and researchers to build trusted, interoperable, and high-integrity circular frameworks—transforming battery systems into a sustainable and resilient mobility economy.

Scalable, Low-Emission Recycling Plants Closing the Battery Supply Loop

Primobius is a joint venture between SMS Group and Neometals Ltd., combining leading engineering excellence with expertise in sustainable materials recovery to deliver end-to-end lithium‑ion battery recycling solutions. The company designs and builds scalable, environmentally focused plants that recover high-purity materials—including lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, copper, and graphite—from various battery chemistries and formats. Their technology enables clean integration of recycled materials back into battery supply chains.

Key Capabilities & Innovation

Strategic Impact in EV Battery Circularity

Primobius accelerates Europe’s transition toward a circular battery economy by offering turnkey recycling infrastructure backed by global-scale engineering capabilities. Their technology supports decarbonization of the battery supply chain, strengthens regional sourcing resilience, and enables OEMs to comply with evolving environmental regulations.

Through high-purity secondary material output and strategic partnerships, Primobius helps stakeholders close material loops and reduce reliance on virgin mining.

Powering Battery Circularity at Gigafactory Scale

PowerCo SE, Volkswagen Group’s dedicated battery company, is redefining the future of battery sustainability. As a cornerstone of Volkswagen’s global electrification strategy, PowerCo is building an end-to-end, closed-loop battery value chain that spans cell production, battery recycling, and raw material reintegration—with sustainability and circularity at its core.

From Salzgitter (Germany) to Valencia (Spain) and St. Thomas (Canada), PowerCo’s network of gigafactories isn’t just about battery production—they’re equipped with on-site recycling facilities designed to recover valuable materials from exhausted EV batteries and production scrap. This approach reduces environmental impact, enhances supply chain resilience, and lowers raw material dependency.

Recycling Innovation Through Partnership

PowerCo has formed a strategic joint venture with Umicore, one of Europe’s leading materials technology companies, to secure high-efficiency recovery of lithium, nickel, cobalt, and other critical metals. Together, they are setting new benchmarks in battery materials circularity, producing new cathode materials from recycled content and feeding them back into PowerCo’s Unified Cell platform.

Sustainability in Action

PowerCo’s Unified Cell design not only supports flexible chemistries like LFP, NMC, and Si-anode but is also engineered with recyclability in mind. By standardizing across platforms, PowerCo simplifies downstream disassembly and recycling—further optimizing the environmental and economic impact of battery life cycles.

PowerCo isn’t just a battery manufacturer—it is a circular battery champion. With €20+ billion committed by 2030, and a firm vision for closed-loop production, PowerCo is setting the pace for Europe’s sustainable battery future. Their presence at the summit highlights a growing consensus: sustainable mobility starts with sustainable batteries—and sustainable batteries begin with recycling.

Closing the Loop on Battery Materials

Electric vehicle batteries contain valuable metals — lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese — that current recycling processes fail to capture efficiently. Revitalise, an EU-funded research project, is changing that, developing a complete end-to-end recycling system that recovers 89% or more of critical materials from end-of-life batteries.

Pre-processing, separation and grading Before recycling can begin, battery materials need to be carefully broken down and sorted. Revitalise has developed treatment and sorting processes that produce cleaner, higher-purity black mass fractions. Higher-grade material is directed into direct recycling, while lower-grade material enters hydrometallurgical processing – ensuring each fraction is treated by the most efficient route.

Direct recycling Rather than breaking battery materials down to their constituent metals, direct recycling restores depleted electrode materials so they can go straight back into new batteries. This cuts energy use, reduces processing costs and produces materials with equivalent performance to those made from virgin metals.

Greener, more flexible hydrometallurgy Revitalise has applied green chemistry approaches to traditional hydrometallurgical processing, lowering energy requirements and reducing the use of toxic chemicals. The process is designed to handle a range of battery chemistries, keeping it relevant as battery technology continues to develop.

Water treatment and lithium recapture The final stage recovers lithium carbonate, fluoride and phosphate from process wastewater, producing high-purity outputs suitable for reuse. Treated water is recirculated back into the recycling process, closing the loop on water use as well as materials.

As the battery industry scales and regulatory pressure on recycled content increases, the technologies developed by Revitalise offer a pathway to recycling that is more efficient, more sustainable and better prepared for the batteries of tomorrow.