Ascend Elements breaks ground on Kentucky facility

Ascend Elements has broken ground on a facility in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, it says will be the largest electric vehicle (EV) battery recycling and engineered materials manufacturing facility in the United States.

Several regional and local government officials joined the company at its groundbreaking ceremony, including Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, as did representatives from EV battery manufacturing companies. Hopkinsville is in southwestern Kentucky, 12 miles from the Tennessee border.

Massachusets-based Ascend says the plant is being built to “help meet North America’s growing demand for lithium-ion battery materials, specifically engineered precursor (pCAM) and battery-ready cathode active materials (CAM).” When finished, Ascend says its Apex 1 facility in Kentucky will produce enough pCAM and CAM to equip 250,000 EVs per year.

Ascend describes the materials as consisting of nickel sulfate, lithium carbonate, cobalt sulfate and manganese sulfate.

The company is one of two battery recycling firms to have received funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), along with a facility in Ohio operated by North Carolina-based Cirba Solutions.

“Today, we’ve begun building something that doesn’t exist anywhere in the U.S.—a domestic source of sustainable lithium-ion cathode material for EV batteries,” Ascend Elements CEO Michael O’Kronley says. “We’re in the middle of a global energy transformation and it’s critical that we produce lithium-ion battery material in the U.S. Our future energy independence and national security depend on it.”

“Ascend Elements’ initial announcement made history as the largest development project in Christian County [Kentucky], but with recent announcements the investment has grown to nearly $1 billion and will create 400 full-time jobs, making it the single largest investment in Western Kentucky,” Beshear adds.

He continues, “Kentucky has quickly become a national leader in the EV space, and a substantial supplier network that consists of innovative companies like Ascend Elements is the reason for that success. I want to thank the leaders at the company for this commitment to the commonwealth, and I can’t wait to see Ascend Elements and the Hopkinsville community grow together.”

Ascend says it plans to invest close to $1 billion in the 140-acre Apex 1 campus and 500,000-square-foot manufacturing facility. Its recent DOE grants have a combined value of $480 million, according to the company.

The firm describes its Hydro-to-Cathode direct precursor synthesis process technology as “the most efficient and economically compelling way to return recycled battery materials to the battery supply chain.” The closed-loop system “generates minimal waste and carbon emissions compared to traditional cathode manufacturing,” Ascend says.