The battery supply chain is under pressure. With 900 million of EVs expected for 2040, the EU will need to grow its current supply by 19 times just in the next decade. Europe is moreover subject to a dependence on foreign streams of critical material (incl. lithium cobalt, manganese, nickel, graphite) as it only produces 1% of all battery raw materials overall. These are often mined in questionable socio-environmental conditions and exposes EU to price volatility and limited sovereignty.

Circularity stands as a way out. However, only 10% of battery materials is currently recovered and only 1% to 3% of lithium gets recovered worldwide. New processes and technologies are thus required which are technologically risky to scale and associated to heavy CAPEX and OPEX.

BATMASS aims to implement the first EU Circular Battery Valley. It offers a portfolio of cross-regional investments in TRL6+ innovations in circular technologies and processes for battery materials. 

BATMASS mobilizes an integrated interregional ecosystem around 4 Demonstrators (or ‘Demo lighthouses’) meant to scale up, commercialize and deploy breakthrough GreenTech. It taps into the innovation power of RTOs and SMEs to accelerate market entry and international replication across EU regions and beyond. Tech transfers between less developed, transition and developed regions is expected to structure this emerging value chain and anchor it into regional innovation ecosystems.

After I3 coverage of its investment gap, BATMASS alone (without its spill-over effects) will drive revenue generation after 30months for a 10-year EBIT target of 590 M€ held by a workforce of 209 FTEs. These will add to the strategic contribution to EU resilience, as well as to 60.000 tons of CO2 avoided – based on the recycling of 67.000 tons of batteries and 15.000 tons of black mass. BATMASS will save 59,000 of precursor materials and contribute to achieve EU strategic resilience and environmental objectives.