Today's end-of-life vehicles contain the critical materials needed to build tomorrow's electric vehicles, making their recovery vital to the UK's industrial future.
Rare earth magnets are essential to electric motors, yet much of the global supply chain remains reliant on imported primary materials. As the UK Government looks to strengthen critical mineral security and support domestic manufacturing, attention is increasingly turning to the valuable resources already in circulation.
That is why EMR, a global leader in circular materials, has joined REACT-UK (Rare Earth Automotive Circular Technologies for the UK), a new £6.5 million collaborative project that will help establish a circular UK supply chain for rare earth neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets used in electric and hybrid vehicles.
Supported through the DRIVE35 programme, delivered by the Department for Business and Trade in partnership with the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC) and Innovate UK, the project brings together HyProMag, Mkango Rare Earths UK, Jaguar Land Rover, Less Common Metals, the University of Birmingham and EMR.
Together, the partners will develop technologies to recover, recycle, and remanufacture rare earth magnets from end-of-life vehicles, helping to strengthen domestic manufacturing capability while reducing reliance on imported resources.
Every year, vehicles reach the end of their lives carrying components that still contain valuable, rare-earth elements. Too often, those materials are lost from the supply chain. REACT UK aims to change that.
EMR will bring together its EV Battery, End-of-Life Vehicle and Research & Development expertise to identify and recover magnet-containing components from hybrid and electric vehicles. Working closely with Jaguar Land Rover, the project will also explore new approaches to dismantling and component recovery, creating a feedback loop that helps manufacturers design future vehicles with circularity in mind.
The recovered materials will then be processed and remanufactured by project partners into new automotive-grade magnets, ready to return to UK manufacturing.
It is a practical example of how today's materials can become tomorrow's products.
Mike Hogan, Corporate Development Manager at EMR said:
"The UK has rightly identified critical minerals as essential to its industrial future."
"Demand for rare earth materials is growing rapidly across automotive, renewable energy and advanced manufacturing sectors. Yet too much of the supply chain remains dependent on imported materials and global market conditions beyond our control."
"Projects like REACT UK demonstrate how we can build greater resilience by recovering the materials already in circulation. Every end-of-life vehicle contains valuable resources that can help support future manufacturing."
"By bringing together dismantling, recovery, recycling and remanufacturing expertise, we're helping create a domestic supply chain for rare earth magnets that keeps these materials in use for longer and supports the UK's ambitions for economic growth, energy security and net-zero."
"This is about turning today's materials into tomorrow's products and ensuring those materials remain part of the UK economy."
The project further strengthens EMR's role in developing circular supply chains for critical minerals and rare earth elements.
It also builds on previous collaborations between consortium partners and complements EMR's involvement in other DRIVE35-funded programmes, including CircularREEconomy (CREEM) and MOBIUS, which are helping establish innovative approaches to recovering and reusing critical materials across the automotive sector.
As demand for critical minerals continues to grow, projects such as REACT UK demonstrate how the UK's urban mine can help support future manufacturing, strengthen domestic supply chains, and reduce reliance on imported resources.
Because tomorrow's vehicles depend on today's materials.
