Battery recycling Hauts-de-France:

Battri opens its first factory in Saint-Laurent-Blangy

On June 20, 2025, Battri, an innovative French start-up, opened its first battery recycling plant in Saint-Laurent-Blangy, in the Hauts-de-France region. This 161,459 sq. ft. site embodies the region's ambition for energy transition and a circular economy. Take a look behind the scenes of this strategic project.

Published on 26.06.2025

Battri: a start-up committed
to a circular economy

With international experience in the automotive industry, spanning Asia and North America, followed by a stint in the tech sector in Amsterdam, Maxime Trèves joined the family company Trèves, an equipment manufacturer specialized in automotive acoustics, with strong roots in the Hauts-de-France region.

Noting the rapid development of gigafactories in Europe, particularly in the Hauts-de-France region, he founded Battri along with Patrick Archier, Andrew Moeller, and Sébastien Romet in 2022 to address the major challenge of recycling end-of-life batteries.

🔎 Discover the electric vehicle sector in Hautes-de-France

I noticed the development of gigafactories in Europe, particularly in the Hauts-de-France region. They generate a lot of waste. What will happen to batteries at the end of their life? Recycling is a major issue. In ten years, it is estimated that the necessary recycling capacity will reach 1.5 million tons per year.

Maxime Trèves, Co-founder and CEO of Battri

Since it was founded, Battri has built a Europe-wide pickup network, developed its own recycling process, and welcomed the Moroccan mining group Managem as a shareholder. The company is now ready to move into the industrialization phase, with a strategic setting up in Hauts-de-France, in the heart of the “Battery Valley,” which was officially recognized in late 2023.

A major industrial milestone
for battery recycling

Two years after its creation as a trial project and having raised 10 million euros in funding, Battri has reached a crucial milestone with the launch of its first industrial site in Saint-Laurent-Blangy. This 161,459 sq. ft. site, which is dedicated to the pre-processing of lithium-ion batteries, marks the company’s operational launch.

This process includes collecting, diagnosing, dismantling, crushing, and separating materials to extract the “black mass,” which is rich in nickel, cobalt, graphite, and lithium. This strategic material is then sold to specialized partners for refining and reuse in the manufacture of new batteries. The other components—aluminum, copper, iron, polymers—are also recycled.

Battri estimates its initial capacity at 15,000 tons per year, with the potential to expand to 35,000 tons by 2026, which means it could recycle 80,000 electric vehicle batteries. This makes it the biggest lithium-ion battery recycling plant in France.

The founders have set themselves a recovery rate of up to 95% of the materials contained in each battery, positioning the company among the best performers in the sector.

This project represents a 20 million euro investment and will allow for the creation of 100 direct jobs, including positions in logistics, laboratory work, management, and specialized operators.

Our goal is simple: to contribute to reducing carbon emissions by recycling lithium-ion batteries safely and efficiently.
Maxime Trèves, Co-founder and CEO of Battri

The site is SEVESO high threshold classified, covers 50% of its energy needs through solar power, cogeneration and heat recovery, and has a full environmental certification.

Why develop in Hauts-de-France?
A setting up marked by industrial synergy

The choice of Saint-Laurent-Blangy is part of a strategy to remain close to the major gigafactories that are already present in the region: Verkor, ACC, AESC, Prologium, Tiamat, and Enersys. This setting up in the heart of the “Battery Valley” will allow Battri to fully integrate into a structured, dense and growing industrial ecosystem, both regionally and across Europe.

But beyond its local territory, Battri aims to play a strategic role across the continent. The company wants to play an active role in boosting Europe’s competitiveness in electric vehicle processing and battery recycling, an area where Europe is lagging behind.

Asia is ten years ahead of us, and the US five years ahead.
Maxime Trèves, Co-founder and CEO of Battri

By setting up in Hauts-de-France, close to future waste streams from battery production and disposal, the company aims to become a key stakeholder in Europe’s green reindustrialization.

A regional ecosystem mobilized
around the project

Battri’s setting up in Saint-Laurent-Blangy would not have been possible without the coordinated efforts of all the stakeholders in the region. Nord France Invest, the economic development agency for the Hauts-de-France region, played a role in bringing the project to fruition by

identifying solutions for setting up the business,
providing support with administrative procedures,
assisting with financial engineering,
putting the company in touch with institutional partners.

🔎 Discover Nord France Invest’s services.

This type of setting up, which is highly industrial and technology-intensive, requires close coordination between public stakeholders, energy operators, real estate professionals, transportation providers, and industrial partners.

This effective local network illustrates the Hauts-de-France region’s ability to bring people together around meaningful projects that have a strong environmental impact and create jobs. A regional support model that reinforces the region’s role as a driving force behind the industrial transition promoted by the REV3 initiative.

An inauguration
that supports a national ambition

The recycling plant was officially inaugurated on June 20, 2025, in the presence of Ms. Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister for the Ecological Transition, Mr. Xavier Bertrand, President of the Hauts-de-France Region, Mr. Frédéric Leturque, Mayor of Arras and President of the Urban Community, and Mr. Nicolas Desfachelle, Mayor of Saint-Laurent-Blangy, marking a turning point for the French industry. By contributing to energy independence and the circular economy, Battri is anchoring its development in the industrial priorities of the future.

With the largest processing capacity in France, we are able to meet local waste processing needs. Together with all of our partners, who believed in the project and continue to support us, we have successfully reached this new milestone.

Maxime Trèves