Interviewee: Jean-Francois Despois, Global Automotive Sustainability Senior Manager at Novelis.
Ahead of the 13th Tokyo Battery Summit, we spoke with Jean-Francois Despois, Global Automotive Sustainability Senior Manager at Novelis. Although Novelis is a global leader in aluminium recycling, the company currently has no operations in Japan. Its priority here is to build connections with Japanese OEMs such as Toyota, Nissan, and Honda, which maintain major operations in North America and Europe, the regions where Novelis sees the strongest opportunities for collaboration.
Q. Could you briefly introduce your background?
I am a materials science engineer. I studied at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and completed a PhD in mechanical metallurgy, with research focused on aluminium foams and cellular materials. I joined Novelis in 2005 and have been based in Europe, working across product, process, and business development with a strong focus on Asia. Since 2009, I have worked with Japanese OEMs, starting with Nissan projects in Europe and later extending to North America. Four years ago, I moved into R&D, and my current responsibility is to develop and implement Novelis' decarbonisation roadmaps from a technical point of view.
Q. What will the structure of your presentation look like?
The presentation will cover three areas. First, I will introduce Novelis and highlight our long track record in recycling and circularity, as well as our position as the world leader in aluminium recycling. Second, I will focus on aluminium for batteries, specifically battery enclosures and casings, and present solutions that make them lightweight, cost-efficient, sustainable, and high-performance. Third, I will walk through our circular model for battery enclosures, covering how to recycle battery casings across the full value chain, from manufacturing scrap to end-of-life batteries, and showcase pilot projects that demonstrate both technical feasibility and high recycled content.
Decarbonisation Strategy
Novelis does not produce primary aluminium, so we source it from the market and welcome any opportunity to access lower-carbon primary metal. That said, producing primary aluminium remains significantly more energy-intensive than recycling, which is why we focus strongly on increasing recycled content by replacing primary metal with secondary material wherever possible. Our main strategy involves developing technologies to process contaminated or mixed scrap, creating new alloys that tolerate impurities while maintaining performance, and building partnerships to secure scrap supply. Beyond reducing primary metal use on the Scope 3 side, we also work on reducing emissions from our own processes under Scope 1 and 2. I work globally across operations in North America, Europe, China, and Korea, with a primary focus on the automotive sector, though Novelis also serves beverage cans, electronics, construction, and aerospace.
Q. Under the ELV regulation, recycled content targets for aluminium have not yet been finalised, but their introduction has already been signalled. How do you see the near future evolving, and how is Novelis preparing for it?
Increasing recycled content requires genuine collaboration between ecosystem stakeholders and policymakers. I work directly with the European Commission and other stakeholders to help shape practical and realistic regulations and support the transition toward circular materials. Current discussions suggest that feasibility studies will run until the end of 2026, after which recycled content targets for steel and aluminium may be formally proposed.
Our position is clear: setting high short-term targets would not be realistic because the ecosystem is simply not ready. Adaptation takes time, and we propose a step-by-step approach. The first step is to allow broad use of scrap from mixed origins, including both pre- and post-consumer scrap. From there, the share of end-of-life material should gradually increase, with the ultimate goal of achieving closed-loop automotive-to-automotive recycling.
Availability is a key constraint. Volumes of wrought aluminium end-of-life automotive scrap, including sheets and extrusions, will remain limited over the next 10 to 15 years. An acceleration is expected after that, as the generation of vehicles containing more wrought aluminium begins reaching end-of-life. Today, Novelis achieves an average of 63% recycled content across all products, with specific automotive alloys available at up to 86%. In automotive solutions, pre-consumer scrap accounts for around 35 to 40%, with the remainder coming from post-consumer market scrap. We are a frontrunner, and we know that targeting 60% immediately across the entire industry would not be realistic. The ecosystem needs time to develop.
In battery discussions, attention is often focused on critical materials and black mass, but the aluminium casing is frequently overlooked. An EV battery can contain up to 100 kg of aluminium, which makes recycling this material very important. In Europe, different regulatory frameworks, such as ELV, the Battery Regulation, and Circular Economy initiatives, will need to be aligned over time. Novelis operates major European facilities in Germany, including the largest recycling centre near Berlin, as well as in Switzerland, Italy, and the United Kingdom.
Q. What is your message to Japanese OEMs, and what is Novelis looking for?
We are open to discussing partnerships and setting up projects, including physical industrial-scale demonstrators to validate the technical feasibility of a circular model. The goal would be to increase recycling, reduce waste, and develop roadmaps and business cases for mass production implementation.
The ideal collaboration, using a battery case as a model, would follow a full cycle: collecting used casings, remelting them, producing ingots, rolling and processing the material, and finally manufacturing components at the OEM. This kind of project allows us to identify technical challenges, optimise design for recycling, and verify performance compliance. It also enables us to work together on future vehicle volume projections, set achievable recycled content levels in the range of 50 to 60%, assess scrap supply sources, and clarify collection and logistics challenges. Preparation today is essential. Major regulatory requirements are expected between 2030 and 2035, and we hope to connect with Japanese OEMs, including Toyota and Honda, for potential collaboration and business development.
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