Here is another reason why I suspect that NMT has been somewhat...

Here is another reason why I suspect that NMT has been somewhat behind the 8 ball in meeting Recycling business deadlines.....

The industry is evolving on an almost weekly basis, there are new technologies break throughs occurring constantly.

These four articles ( all from January this year) are referencing Mercedes among others but all 4 have different timelines and competing technologies. (might be down to shitty journalism as they are not all what I'd call my Go too sites for this kind of info, but still)

If NMT is going to be the recycler of choice for Merc imagine having your goal posts moved constantly to the next new thing.

I'm not making excuses for the delays in regards to the Primobius JV but I'm just saying I can see why.
If they need to have a flow sheet for NMC, LFP, Solid state and Sodium ion,etc. I can imagine that is going to take some time. Hell the first flow sheet still doesn't have the cobalt results out yet unless I'm forgetting an announcement.

So while some are unhappy with the Merc JV being seemingly doing something for free it would be keeping NMT up to date as the financial might of Merc would not want to gamble and get it wrong as there is a good chance we loose some of the traditional OEM's with this switch to EV.

Not Excuses just maybe some cause and effect.

Interesting reading none the less.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Solid-state-battery-maker-ProLogium-opens-first-Gigafactory-for-75-kWh-solid-state-ceramic-EV-batteries.796726.0.html

https://www.reuters.com/technology/solid-state-ev-giants-chase-holy-grail-batteries-2024-01-16/

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/technology/mercedes-solid-state-batteries-may-not-be-necessary

https://au.pcmag.com/cars-auto/103578/mercedes-eyes-solid-state-ev-batteries-by-2030-as-first-factory-opens