Why Billy-Berclau matters
ACC gigafactory anchoring the French battery valley. Active names in and around the city include Automotive Cells Company.
Manufacturing clusters generate production scrap and off-spec cells during line ramp-up, warranty returns from early vehicles, and validation packs from test tracks. The material is usually single-chemistry and well documented, which makes it some of the cleanest feed in the network.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Serving site | Lyon — Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Refinery (Hydrometallurgical Refinery) |
| Pickup SLA | 72 hours |
| Coverage radius | 238 km |
| Collection cadence | Weekly or fortnightly scheduled scrap runs |
| Regulatory framework | EU Battery Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 and the French EPR (REP) system |
How collection works here
We run scheduled scrap collections from plant gates and tier-one suppliers, with dedicated bins per chemistry and a weighbridge reconciliation against each supplier's scrap log. Off-spec cells that never entered a vehicle are graded separately because their value profile is different from end-of-life packs.
Loads move in Class 9 compliant transport with pre-filled dangerous goods paperwork to Lyon, France, where they are weighed, logged and graded.
- Cell and pack assembly plants
- Tier-one module suppliers
- Vehicle assembly lines
- Validation and test centres
What the rules require in France
The EU Battery Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 applies directly, replacing the old Batteries Directive with extended producer responsibility, collection and material recovery targets, recycled-content rules and, from February 2027, a digital battery passport for EV and larger industrial batteries. France has a long-established producer responsibility system for batteries, run through approved eco-organisations and individual schemes, with ADEME keeping the producer register.
Road transport follows ADR, and cross-border shipments follow the EU Waste Shipment Regulation.
- Register as a producer and meet take-back duties through an approved scheme
- Use permitted (ICPE-classified) sites for storage and treatment
- Report quantities placed on the market and collected
- Prepare battery passport and due-diligence information for in-scope batteries
Field note
What you get paid and what you file
Settlement is quoted per pack after measured state of health, not by guesswork on age. Modules holding 75% or more of rated capacity settle at second-life rates; the remainder settle against black mass metal content.
Certificates carry achieved recovery percentages and downstream vendor disclosure for reporting under EU Battery Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 and the French EPR (REP) system.