Lyten acquires another Northvolt unit

Following the completion of the acquisition of Northvolt Ett and Northvolt Labs at the end of February, Lyten has now signed a binding agreement to acquire Revolt, the former Northvolt recycling site in Skellefteå, including licenses for key technologies.

Lyten northvolt revolt — View of the Revolt plant in Sweden
Image: Lyten

Lyten has not disclosed any financial details regarding the acquisition. However, the company confirmed that the deal is being ‘fully funded from equity investment in Lyten.’ The US company is currently undergoing all necessary legal and regulatory approval processes in Sweden and expects to finalise the acquisition in the second quarter of this year.

The US developer of lithium-sulphur cells had announced last year—much to the surprise of many—that it would acquire numerous Northvolt units from insolvency. This followed Lyten’s earlier acquisition of initial parts of the company as part of the Swedish battery manufacturer’s strategic realignment. The takeover of the Swedish battery factory and research laboratory was officially completed on 27 February. Operations at Northvolt Ett and Northvolt Labs are now set to resume.

Revolt is one of Europe’s largest fully integrated battery recycling facilities, with an installed recycling capacity of 8,500 tonnes per year, ‘the infrastructure to scale further,’ according to Lyten. The plant operates entirely on renewable energy and is located in close proximity to the Lyten Ett gigafactory in Skellefteå. It supports the recycling of lithium, cobalt, nickel, and manganese.

Northvolt had already announced at the end of 2021 that, as part of its Revolt recycling programme, it had produced the first battery cell made from 100% recycled nickel, manganese, and cobalt. At the time, the target was to expand recycling capacity to around 25,000 tonnes per year, but this figure was later increased to 125,000 tonnes to produce the first cell from recycled materials. However, it appears only the 8,500 tonnes mentioned by Lyten in its statement have been achieved so far.

“The Revolt recycling plant is an important piece in enabling Europe’s battery supply chain independence and supports Lyten’s goal of reducing mined mineral content in our batteries,” says Dan Cook, CEO and co-founder of Lyten. “We are currently identifying the right partners to restart and scale recycling operations at the Lyten Industrial Hub in Skellefteå.”

lyten.com