Botree Cycling to build plant in Germany

The Chinese company Botree Cycling is planning to build a recycling plant for electric vehicle batteries and an education and training centre for battery recycling specialists in Guben, Brandenburg. Another industry player is also setting up shop in Guben.

With its decision for the Brandenburg location, Botree Cycling is following in the footsteps of the German-Canadian company Rock Tech Lithium, which is setting up a production plant for lithium hydroxide in Guben. Botree Cycling’s battery recycling plant is scheduled to go into operation in 2025 on the Guben South industrial estate – the year in which Rock Tech also plans to start up its facilities.

According to the city, both sides signed a letter of intent in the middle of the month to acquire two plots of land with an area of 3.8 hectares. According to the partners, this is the company’s first location in Europe. Botree Cycling’s planned investment volume in Guben is up to 100 million euros. Around 100 people will be employed on site during ongoing operations. In addition, the company is open to expansion at the location, according to the city hall.

The city is very pleased with the settlement: it has “once again proven that it [the city], with its long industrial tradition and existing infrastructure, offers the best conditions for becoming a central component of the battery value chain and thus part of the Brandenburg e-mobility cluster”.

The German portal Cleanthinking.de lists a few more key points about the company and its recycling technology. Botree Cycling in China is called Suzhou Botree Cycling Sci & Tech Co. Ltd and in October 2022 it “closed an unspecified Series A financing round”, according to the report. The workforce is said to consist of experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences or KU Leuven, among others.

botree.tech, guben.de (PDF), cleanthinking.de, rbb24.de (all in German)