Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on July 17, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleJaguar Land Rover's EV battery recycling project receives UK government funding to recover critical minerals, supporting the transition to electric vehicles.
(Reuters) -An EV battery recycling project backed by Jaguar Land Rover has received British government funding to recover critical minerals from end-of-life batteries, startup Mint Innovation said on Thursday.
The project to recover lithium, nickel and cobalt from used batteries is part of the 2.5-billion-pound ($3.35 billion) DRIVE35 programme that the UK Department for Business and Trade launched on Sunday to support the transition to electric cars.
WHY IT'S IMPORTANT
Britain plans to phase out sales of new petrol and diesel cars by 2035. But globally demand for EVs has fallen behind expectations, with consumers citing high upfront costs as the main barrier.
BY THE NUMBERS
The lithium-ion battery project will be in Britain's West Midlands and run for three years, Mint Innovation said in a statement.
The cleantech company's project is backed by Tata Motors' unit Jaguar Land Rover, LiBatt Recycling and the Warwick Manufacturing Group department of the University of Warwick.
It has secured 8.1 million pounds in funding, including 4.05 million from the government's Advanced Propulsion Centre UK.
Britain's DRIVE35 will commit 2 billion pounds in funding to 2030 and an additional 500 million pounds for research and development to 2035 to support job creation and EV innovation, the Department for Business and Trade said on Sunday.
KEY QUOTE
"Our advanced processes aim to not only deliver high-quality materials ... but also help to reduce our reliance on virgin materials," said Beth Johnston, Assistant Professor at the University of Warwick.
CONTEXT
In April, Britain softened its demands on automakers to shift to EV production, seeking to alleviate pressure on an industry already reeling from U.S. import tariffs.
In June, Jaguar Land Rover trimmed its fiscal 2026 margin forecast due to slowing global auto demand, months after shelving plans to build EVs at a new $1 billion Tata factory in southern India.
($1 = 0.7460 pounds)
(Reporting by Alessandro Parodi. Editing by Mark Potter)
Battery recycling is the process of collecting and processing used batteries to recover valuable materials like lithium, nickel, and cobalt, which can be reused in new batteries, reducing waste and environmental impact.
Critical minerals are essential raw materials that are crucial for the production of various technologies, including electric vehicles and renewable energy systems. They include lithium, cobalt, and nickel.
Jaguar Land Rover is backing a battery recycling initiative to recover critical minerals from used batteries, contributing to sustainable practices in the automotive industry.
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