Hydrovolt enters the Swedish market for battery recycling

Hydrovolt is one of two approved treatment operators for end-of-life high-energy batteries in Sweden. The number of electric vehicles on Swedish roads is expected to increase significantly in the coming years, and with it the demand for recycling solutions.

The agreement with FoRetur provides a basis for Hydrovolt to offer collection, transport, assessment for reuse, and material recycling of electric vehicle batteries, in compliance with Swedish regulations under the EU Battery Regulation.

“We look forward to engaging in dialogue with the Swedish vehicle importer network, and we strongly believe that our unique experience and market insight from Norway and our facility in Fredrikstad will be valuable to importers in need of efficient, sustainable, and competent battery recycling solutions,” says Hans Bjerkaas, Chief Commercial and Development Officer at Hydrovolt.

Since 2022, Hydrovolt has operated Norway’s first and the Nordic region’s largest facility for recycling batteries from electric vehicles and industrial applications in Fredrikstad, close to the Swedish border. The company has invested in a plant with an annual capacity to handle 12,000 tonnes of battery packs, equivalent to 25,000 electric vehicle batteries.

Through several years of accumulated operational process expertise, Hydrovolt has achieved a total recovery rate from door to door at its facility of close to 100 percent, and a material recovery rate of up to 85 percent. At Hydrovolt, new value is created from battery waste through sustainable technology choices.

FoRetur was established to manage producer responsibility for electric vehicle batteries on behalf of the automotive industry in Sweden. Going forward, Hydrovolt will engage with Swedish vehicle importers to present its service offering in cooperation with Ragn Sells, which will provide logistics and transport services to ensure efficient and robust solutions for Swedish importers.

In August 2025, the industry associations in Norway and Sweden—the Norwegian Automobile Importers Association (Bilimportørenes Landsforening) and Mobility Sweden—entered a strategic collaboration to build the future system for sustainable battery recycling in line with new EU requirements. FoRetur is wholly owned by Mobility Sweden and awaiting approval as a producer responsibility organization from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, which applies to all collection systems in Sweden.