Quebec relies on battery recycling

The Legault government is pursuing the battery sector by investing $22.5 million in a first Quebec plant for crushing electric vehicle batteries.

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“It will be able to recover up to 95% of the battery components, which can then be reused by the manufacturers”, detailed today in a press briefing the Minister of the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, at Recyclage Lithion, in Anjou.

Thanks to this support, the maintenance of the head office, intellectual property and local supply is ensured, said Minister Fitzgibbon alongside the Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charrette, and Bicha Ngo, First Executive Vice-President of Investment Quebec (IQ).

For the Legault government, this announcement is timely because big players are increasingly interested in Quebec, which fuels ambition for the sector.

Two factories planned

Thus, after the exploitation and transformation of minerals (BASF and GM, POSCO) and the manufacture of commercial vehicles (Lion, Taiga, BRP), Quebec opens the new chapter of battery recycling.

First, a first plant (2023) will process up to 7,500 tons of batteries per year, the equivalent of the number needed for 25,000 electric vehicles. Lithion Recycling will invest more than $80 million there over the next two years.

Subsequently, a second plant worth $300 million is planned for 2025. Some 160 jobs should be created.

In total, Quebec’s $22.5 million includes a $15 million equity stake (20%) and $7.5 million in grants.

Today, the president of Recyclage Lithion, Benoit Couture, did not hide his joy at finally seeing his project come to fruition. For the occasion, he had placed pots of mineral powder and batteries to present them to the public.

Passing from one table to another, he showed that the vehicle batteries brought to him could be recycled thanks to his innovative technology.

When The newspaper asked him if we could one day hope to do without mines and rely solely on this type of battery recycling, Benoit Couture replied that in the short term this avenue was not possible.

“We could perhaps have the utopia that, very far in time, no, we will no longer need the mines, but I would not count on that,” he said.

Many partners

At its plant, Recyclage Lithion has already succeeded in recycling some Kona electric batteries from Korean manufacturer Hyundai, which is one of its partners.

Fondaction and IMM Investment, which have business ties with cathode and cell manufacturers LG, Samsung and POSCO, are also part of the project.

Remember that Quebec has 133,000 electric vehicles on its roads and that this figure should explode to 1.5 million in 2030, recalled today Benoit Charette, Minister of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change. .

“We must already design what to do with these batteries,” he illustrated.

“We cannot think only of electrifying our transport without having to manage what it will generate as residual materials”, he concluded.

♦ The Quebec government has set a GHG reduction target of 37.5% below 1990 levels by 2030, which is ambitious, according to Environment Minister Benoit Charette.