Materia AI has secured Innovate UK funding to develop ReGenTrace AI, a cloud-based platform that applies machine learning and blockchain traceability to end-of-life EV batteries. The system will digitise collection, dismantling, and recycling, helping UK operators cut processing costs, maximise lithium, nickel, and cobalt recovery, and prove ESG compliance across the battery value chain.
Materia AI, a pioneer in AI-driven materials innovation and circular battery systems, today announced it has secured UK government grant funding for its innovative AI platform, ReGenTrace AI, which will transform how end-of-life EV batteries are collected, recycled, and reintegrated into the circular battery economy.
The funding will support the development of ReGenTrace AI, a cloud-native platform that combines machine learning, predictive modelling and blockchain traceability to turn battery recycling into a data-driven, automated and fully traceable process.
Materia AI’s mission is to build the digital infrastructure for a truly circular EV battery ecosystem, helping industry participants across the battery value chain, from logistics and dismantling through to next-generation materials discovery and lifecycle assessment.
With growing volumes of EV batteries expected to reach end-of-life over the next decade and increasing demand for raw materials, developing a circular supply chain will be critical to supporting a resilient and sustainable battery ecosystem in the UK.
ReGenTrace AI is being developed to address this challenge, supporting a rapidly scaling EV battery recycling industry by reducing costs, maximising material recovery and ensuring ESG compliance.
According to a recent report by the Advanced Propulsion Centre, recycled battery materials could meet up to 20% of the UK’s automotive battery demand by 2035, if all available gigafactory scrap and end-of-life battery material is recovered and refined.
However, the current recycling industry is fragmented, labour-intensive and digitally underdeveloped, leaving industry players ill-equipped to unlock the full value of end-of-life batteries.
The ReGenTrace AI platform will integrate a powerful suite of AI modules, including:
- Optimisation of end-of-life battery collection and logistics through AI control towers.
- Real-time materials identification using computer vision and edge AI for rapid classification of packs, modules and chemistries.
- Prediction of black mass composition, reducing lab costs and improving feedstock valuation.
- AI-guided discovery and optimisation of next-generation battery materials and manufacturing pathways.
- Blockchain-based traceability, capturing battery and material provenance across the lifecycle.
- AI-driven forecasting of materials pricing, recycled-content demand and supply–demand imbalances.
- Dynamic LCA and carbon optimisation.
The first ReGenTrace AI modules will go live by the end of March, with validation through a live MVP deployment at a leading UK battery recycler. AI models will identify battery material types and predict waste composition, enabling forecasting of elemental composition and impurity profiles. This will allow feedstocks to be dynamically routed to optimal processing pathways and process conditions to be tuned to maximise lithium, nickel and cobalt recovery.
While initially targeted at the fast-growing EV battery recycling sector, ReGenTrace AI will have wide-ranging applications across the whole supply chain, from producers of battery materials to gigafactories and OEMs.
The grant funding was secured through Innovate UK’s Early Stage Growth Catalyst competition, which aims to accelerate high-potential start-ups across five of the government’s frontier technologies, including AI.
About Materia AI
Materia AI is a UK-based deep tech startup using artificial intelligence and cloud-based high-performance computing to accelerate the discovery of next-generation materials and build the digital backbone for a circular, traceable and decarbonised energy future.
The company’s ReGenTrace AI platform combines machine learning, predictive modelling and blockchain traceability to automate and optimise battery recycling, unlocking higher recovery rates and lowering costs to create a low-carbon supply chain for EV battery materials.
Further Reading on ATF Professional
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Altilium welcomes strategic partners to VIP opening of UK’s first-of-a-kind EV battery recycling plant
