Hydrovolt approved to handle end-of-life batteries for Norwegian car importers

Hydrovolt has qualified as a treatment operator of end-of-life batteries in the tender process conducted by the producer responsibility organization, Autoretur Battery Recycling (ABR). Hydrovolt is ready to handle the growing waste challenges in the Norwegian market going forward.

All importers of vehicles with high-energy batteries are required to be members of an approved producer responsibility organization. ABR has therefore been established by the Norwegian Car Importers Association (BIL) through Autoretur AS to ensure that requirements for collection, traceability, reporting, and treatment of end-of-life batteries are fulfilled in accordance with current regulations.

Hydrovolt will be one of ABR’s treatment operators, providing services for collection, reuse and recycling of these batteries. Hydrovolt will now enter into negotiations with Norwegian car importers for its services.

“We have built unique commercial and operational experience at a modern production facility in Fredrikstad, delivering essential battery recycling services for today’s needs – and for the future. We recover raw materials of high quality with minimal emissions and high safety standards and look forward to being a professional partner for Norwegian car importers,” says Ole-Christen Enger, CEO of Hydrovolt.

Since 2022, Hydrovolt has operated Norway’s first and one of Europe’s largest facilities for recycling batteries from electric vehicles and industrial applications in Fredrikstad. The company has made significant investments in a plant with an annual capacity to handle 12,000 tons of battery packs, equivalent to 25,000 electric vehicle batteries in a safe and efficient manner.

Hydrovolt has addressed battery as a recycling operator for several years, including through a collaboration agreement with Batteriretur, directly with car dismantlers, and through its management of handling 1800 batteries stored outside in Spydeberg earlier this spring. This fall, Hydrovolt is also running a clean-up campaign in collaboration with Autoretur AS, targeting car dismantlers to ensure efficient handling, collection and recycling of stored batteries.

With high process knowledge, Hydrovolt has achieved an overall recovery rate close to 100 percent at its facility – from door to door – and a material recovery rate of up to 85 percent. At Hydrovolt, new value is created of battery waste from sustainable technology choices.

The demand for battery recycling services is expected to increase in the coming years in line with historic electric vehicle sales and the increasing use of batteries in industrial applications. This makes it crucial to have a system and long-term, robust operators that ensure the safe and efficient collection and recycling of end-of-life batteries and used batteries to address the increasing amount of battery waste for recycling.