Batteries In Full Circle

As battery technology goes from strength to strength, particularly in relation to electric vehicles, there is growing interest in the question of what to do with the inevitable battery waste that will result once they reach the end of their usable lives. Additionally, given forecasts of shortages of the materials needed for batteries and corresponding cost increases, it would be expected that efforts to make the battery economy a circular one would be worthwhile. Investors appear to believe that this is the case with development of new facilities being regularly announced. For example, Altilium Metals Ltd has recently secured £18.5 million to build the UK's first commercial battery recycling facility. This direction of travel also appears to be borne out in an analysis of patent filing trends recently published by the EPO.