Swedish power future hinges on scarce metals, researchers flag costly recycling gap

Sweden’s upcoming electricity system will need metals in which China holds a dominant market share, raising concerns over supply security. Researchers at an old Northvoltlabb facility in Västerås are experimenting with a recycling method that extracts these metals from black mass, the residue of crushed lithium-ion batteries. Dhruv Malhotra notes that virtually all black mass produced in Europe is exported to Asian processors, a practice the industry keeps hidden despite EU classification of these materials as strategically important.