ABB will deliver the complete electrification solution to Northvolt’s new battery recycling facility in Sweden, Revolt Ett
After completion, the plant can handle 125,000 tons of used batteries and battery production waste per year
As a long-term partner of ABB, Northvolt aims to reduce the carbon footprint of batteries by about 90 percent from current industry levels by 2030
With the growing importance of green batteries in today’s energy transition, ABB’s long-standing partnership with Northvolt in this area is heating up further. Since 2017, ABB has delivered a series of core electrification and automation equipment to the Northvolt Ett Swedish Gigafactory to energize its lithium-ion battery production.

ABB is providing process electrification services for Northvolt’s battery recycling plant

Revolt Ett. For the picture

Today, Northvolt is building its largest battery recycling plant, Revolt Ett, in Skelleftea, northern Sweden, and has once again chosen ABB to provide process electrification services, extending the partnership further into battery recycling. The order has been confirmed in the first quarter of 2023, and specific financial details have not been disclosed.

When completed, the Revolt Ett recycling plant will process 125,000 tons of used batteries and battery production waste per year, making it the world’s leader of its kind. It will serve the Northvolt Gigafactory on the same site, which came online in 2022 with one production block and will follow up with additional blocks to reach its 60 GWh annual production target.

Northvolt is committed to providing a wide range of lithium-ion batteries for the automotive, industrial and large-scale energy storage industries, contributing to the global energy transition. According to the World Economic Forum, battery demand is expected to increase 14-fold by 2030 due to the popularity of electric vehicles, and this momentum has caught the producer’s eye.

ABB’s supply range includes a wide range of switchgear and speed converters that coordinate production speeds across production lines, adjust power as needed, save energy and reduce maintenance.

The plant is an important part of Northvolt’s sustainability plan and will be operational by 2023. The company plans to reduce the carbon footprint of its batteries to 10 kg of carbon emissions per kilowatt-hour (kWh) by 2030, compared with an industry benchmark of 98 kg per kWh. Powering the Northvolt Ett entirely with non-fossil energy sources is critical to achieving this goal.

Emma Nehrenheim, Northvolt’s chief environmental officer,

Batteries are the core technology of energy transformation. As the demand for batteries increases, it is important to recycle old batteries and ensure a steady supply of key minerals. The new Revolt Ett facility will help us achieve both goals and fulfill our mission of producing green batteries.”

With more batteries on the market reaching the end of their useful lives, the use of Revolt Ett battery material recovery and hydromet processes to recover materials is expected to meet Northvolt Ett’s total demand for lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese. By then, Northvolt’s plants in Sweden and Germany will have an annual production capacity of 150 GWh.

Staffan Sodergard, head of the unit Battery Manufacturing business unit at ABB Process Industries, said: