Japan finds a way to recover 90% of lithium from old EV batteries

A Fukui Prefecture facility in Japan has developed a process that recovers about 90% of lithium from spent EV batteries.

The method crushes batteries into black mass and uses hydrometallurgy, while cutting emissions by roughly 40% versus older approaches.

Japan imports nearly all of its battery minerals, so the breakthrough could strengthen domestic recycling and resource security.

The main hurdle remains collecting enough end-of-life batteries to build a reliable recycling supply chain.