LG Energy Solution boosts EV battery recycling in US, Europe

LG Energy Solution (LGES) is increasing its focus on battery recycling to support a circular ecosystem covering the entire lifecycle of batteries, from sourcing to disposal.

The company formed a joint venture with Toyota Tsusho in North Carolina, GMBI, which has an annual capacity of 13,500 tons, enough to process batteries from over 40,000 EVs annually.

The facility will dismantle and crush used batteries to produce black mass recovery. LGES also partnered with France’s Derichebourg to build a 20,000-ton recycling plant in France to meet EU regulations.

The company operates energy storage systems (ESS) in Korea using batteries from electric taxis and plans additional projects in North America. LGES aims for zero waste to landfill at its global sites, with certifications for high recycling rates across several global sites.

🔗 Source: The Korea Times

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

LG recycling plants focus first on factory scrap from battery production

Recycling end-of-life EV batteries remains the long-term aim, yet the new joint ventures focus on near-term battery manufacturing scrap.
The North Carolina plant will first process scrap from LG Energy Solution (LGES)’s battery production for Toyota Motor 1.
The French facility will take battery scrap from LGES’s plant in Poland, plus collect end-of-life EV batteries 2.
This approach taps a steady material stream since large volumes of end-of-life batteries from today’s EV sales likely take about a decade or longer to reach scale 3.
Recycling then helps cut costs while keeping a steady pipeline of lithium, cobalt, and nickel.

Local recycling supports regional battery supply chains amid US-China competition

LGES’s local recycling plants fit into a broader push to build battery supply chains outside Asia.
China leads the market, with 79% of global lithium-ion battery cell production capacity in 2022 4.
Local recycling lets LGES and partners run a closed-loop system that keeps lithium and cobalt in North America and Europe.
Policy backs this work, including the US Inflation Reduction Act’s domestic sourcing incentives plus the EU Battery Regulation’s recycled-content rules starting in 2031 4, 2.
Recycling also lowers economic and national security risks tied to reliance on one country for battery materials plus manufacturing capacity 3.