Atlis in battery recycling partnership

Atlis Motor Vehicles, a mobility technology startup based in Mesa, Ariz., announced that it has entered into an agreement with Li-Cycle Corp. (Li-Cycle), a specialist in lithium-ion battery resource recovery, and the leading lithium-ion battery recycler in North America. No financial details were provided.

Electric vehicle startup Atlis, developers of the XT pickup and other medium- and heavy-duty platforms, has announced an agreement with a battery recycling company.

Atlis is developing a fully electric vehicle platform, proprietary battery cells and packs, and the necessary charging infrastructure to recharge a 500-mile range battery in less than 15 minutes. The XT pickup prototype has been revealed this year and production will begin in 2022. The company also has developed its XP platform designed to electrify medium- and heavy-duty vehicles.

Creating cube-shaped, tabless prismatic cells, Atlis said it is taking a unique approach to its battery management system. The ability to charge in less than 15 minutes requires getting electrons into a battery quickly and managing thermal loads. Atlis said its battery cells are heated to a high temperature at the beginning of the charge to prevent dendrites, lithium formations that can grow inside the battery and cause cell failure, then cooled rapidly at the end to increase life of the cell.

“While we are just beginning our development journey, as a responsible battery and EV manufacturer, battery recycling must be a critical step in our supply chain,” said Mark Hanchett, CEO, and founder of Atlis Motor Vehicles. “We are thrilled to partner with a local recycler, like Li-Cycle, not only to be environmentally responsible, but to impact our bottom line. It is less expensive to reuse battery material than mine for new supplies.”

Li-Cycle recovers critical materials from lithium-ion batteries and reintroduces them back into the supply chain. Li-Cycle said it utilizes its commercial lithium-ion battery recycling Spoke & Hub Technologies to recycle any lithium-ion battery regardless of its chemistry or form factor, recovering up to 95 percent of all critical materials with the output going back into battery production, closing the loop on this supply chain.

“According to Benchmark Intelligence the total number of lithium-ion batteries that will be available for recycling, globally, will exceed 2 million tonnes by 2025,” said Kunal Phalpher, chief commercial officer of Li-Cycle. “There is tremendous opportunity to positively impact the environment through the recycling of EV batteries. Li-Cycle works with both traditional auto manufacturers and innovative startups like ATLIS, who are committed to safe and effective recycling, to help them meet their recycling needs utilizing our breakthrough lithium-ion recycling technologies.”