French mining company Eramet announced that it is suspending plans to build a battery recycling plant, marking the second such project in France to be abandoned within a month as the electric vehicle sector faces challenges.
Recycling batteries for electric cars is crucial, given the high cost of critical minerals they contain. Eramet aimed to develop a facility capable of extracting these minerals from the black powder produced when used batteries are processed.
Despite plans to phase out new internal combustion engine vehicles in Europe over the next decade, the transition to electric vehicles has recently encountered obstacles, with consumer demand waning. Consequently, battery manufacturers have paused expansion efforts, leading recycling firms to do the same.
Eramet cited “major uncertainties” regarding the supply of raw materials and recycling opportunities for metallic salts as reasons for suspending the project. “Due to the lack of ramp-up in Europe of battery factories and their components, the required conditions for pursuing a hydrometallurgical battery recycling plant project in France are therefore not met,” the company stated. If the project had proceeded, Eramet noted it would likely have to export the extracted minerals to Asia, which would be economically unfeasible.
Meanwhile, Eramet’s partner Suez plans to continue with the construction of a facility near Paris to process used car batteries. Last month, carmaker Stellantis and mining group Orano similarly shelved their plans for a battery recycling facility in France.