Stellantis, Orano plan partnership to recycle EV batteries

Global automaker Stellantis and France-based nuclear materials company Orano have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to establish a joint venture for recycling end-of-life electric vehicle (EV) batteries and scrap from gigafactories in Europe and North America.

According to Stellantis, the partnership will strengthen its position in the EV battery value chain by securing additional access to cobalt, nickel and lithium necessary for electrification and energy transition.

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“The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals has confirmed the need to find solutions like this one with Orano to meet the challenge of natural resource scarcity and sustainability,” Stellantis Senior Vice President, Circular Economy Business Unit, Alison Jones says. “Guided by our Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan, Stellantis is committed to shifting its production and consumption model by fulfilling its circular economy commitment.”

Stellantis says the joint venture capitalizes on Orano’s low-carbon technology, which breaks existing processes, allowing the recovery of all materials from lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and the manufacturing of new cathode materials. The companies expect the joint venture to produce black mass or “active mass,” which can then be refined in Orano’s hydrometallurgical plant to be built in Dunkirk, France, so that the materials could be reused in batteries, contributing to a circular economy.

Orano, with U.S. headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, says its pretreatment approach and hydrometallurgy technology allow for the recovery rate of metals to reach more than 90 percent, enabling original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to reach European Commission levels of recycling rate into batteries of EVs and ensure the sustainability of the business model.

“We are delighted with this partnership with a major player such as Stellantis to work together in the recycling of used electric batteries,” says Guillaume Dureau, Orano Group director of innovation, research and development and nuclear medicine, magnets and batteries. “We are proud to bring our expertise and know-how with our innovative and disruptive process which allows a real closed loop. Orano continues its commitment to developing a low-carbon economy with the recycling of strategic materials for the energy transition and the circular economy.”

As part of its Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan, Stellantis says its Circular Economy Business Unit is pushing to increase recycling revenues by 10 times and achieve 2 billion euros in total circular economy revenues by 2030. The company adds it is on track to become a carbon net-zero corporation by 2038, all scopes included, with single-digit percentage compensation of remaining emissions.

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Stellantis says the new commercial recycling entity will provide its partners, its after-sales network and other OEMs with a solution to manage end-of-life batteries and gigafactory scrap. Production will begin in the first part of 2026, reusing existing Stellantis assets and facilities. Investments to reskill and upskill Stellantis and Orano employees will open sustainable perspectives for people in their new assignments.

The joint venture is subject to agreement on definitive documentation.