ABF partner eyes fully domestic supply chain for LFP batteries

Headquartered in American Fork, Utah, and in the midst of building a 2 million-square-foot lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cell gigafactory in Tucson, Arizona, American Battery Factory (ABF) plans to build a domestic supply of LFPs in the United States in the coming years.

The first phase of the plant’s construction is expected to be completed in 2025, but ABF already has lined up partners for its enterprise. One of the first is Lion Energy, a company that also is headquartered in American Fork and produces eco-friendly power solutions ranging from handheld portable device chargers and portable solar generators to home, commercial and industrial battery systems.

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Lion Energy is LFP-focused, and per an agreement reached in late 2022, will receive high-capacity prismatic cells designed for a range of its products from the ABF facility, ensuring a domestic supply chain.

“ABF is going to help us bring all of our products to manufacturing in the U.S., which is super important to us,” Lion Energy CEO Tyler Hortin tells Recycling Today. “We are already U.S. engineered and have U.S. customer service. We even do significant repairs here in the U.S. So, the next step for us is to do complete manufacturing in the U.S., and in order for us to accomplish that we need U.S.-made lithium cells, and ABF is going to help us to do that.”

Currently, Lion Energy performs all of its engineering work at its American Fork headquarters, but splits its testing, fulfillment and even some repair operations between that site and its facility in Atlanta. Hortin notes that adding American-made LFPs to its products ultimately will save costs and ensure it can continue to meet customer demand during times of conflict or concern overseas.

“I would say [nearshoring] is super important going forward,” Hortin says of having items such as battery materials readily available in North America. “Having all of these products closer to home reduces shipping costs, and I would say it reduces a lot of waste involved in all those processes.”

Recycling factors in

As ABF plans to work recycling into the design of its gigafactory, Hortin says Lion Energy believes good recycling starts with good design of its products. “What we do is really good U.S. design,” he adds. “I would say a lot of our competitors are based in Asia, and, for them, once [a product] is shipped, they kind of forget about it.”

He notes that Lion has a different mindset, where it considers the product through its entire lifecycle, making it easier to recycle. Additionally, the company has introduced a recertified product program in which it is able to sell refurbished power generators.

Lion is able to recycle individual pieces of its products, keeping them out of landfills.

“The way we look at it is [recycling] is getting the full useful life out of the products,” Hortin says. “Maybe the battery [in a product] goes bad, but the rest of the components are good. Being able to use that product to the end of its life is a very important concern for us. To throw that away would be an added cost, I would say. So, we try to avoid that, and we try to plan all of our processes around [recycling] so we can keep it going through the full life of the product.”

Hortin adds that designing for recyclability is important for products containing valuable materials, such as LFPs. The company’s Sanctuary whole-home energy storage system, for example, is designed so it can be serviced without having to take the entire battery pack apart.

“The great thing about lithium is that it does last a long time, and to be able to use the life of the lithium is super important when you’re thinking about recycling,” he says. “But, also, [it’s important] to be able to get to the cells to [recycle them], and 97 percent of lithium is recyclable, if you can get to it effectively. I would say design is very important, not only for the product, but for the longevity of the product.”

LFPs on the rise

According to Lion Energy partner ABF, the global market for lithium batteries is expected to reach $105 billion by 2025, and the demand for those batteries is set to increase 10 times over the next decade.

The battery manufacturer’s cells, with cathode material consisting of iron phosphate instead of cobalt and nickel, for example, mainly are used for home and business energy storage, as well as small engines and electric vehicles (EVs).

Since the beginning of this year, the company has added partners alongside Lion. In January, ABF signed a memorandum of understanding with Quebec-based First Phosphate Corp. and United Kingdom-based Integrals Power Ltd., to produce LFP cathode active material (CAM) and LFP battery cells in North America.

The initiative, dubbed “LFP Project America,” is designed to support ABF’s eventual need for up to 40,000 tons of annual fully localized LFP CAM for LFP battery cell production in North America by 2028. The project aims to eventually localize the entire production supply chain of LFP CAM, LFF battery cells storage devices for the battery storage sector to North America.

Among arrangements made by the companies:

• First Phosphate, ABF and Integrals Power will cooperate on the creation of a pilot run of LFP CAM for use in ABF LFP cells using Integrals Power technology and raw materials provided by First Phosphate.
• After the successful pilot has been completed, the three parties will work together to build a North American supply plant to supply LFP CAM to ABF.
• Integrated facilities that move from raw materials into final LFP battery cell and final LFP storage device production, and which would require tighter integration by the current parties and other potential third parties, also could be considered and will form part of advanced discussions between the parties.
• ABF projects sustained annual demand for LFP CAM starting in 2026 rising to 40,000 tons by 2028 at its Tucson gigafactory. ABF says it intends to construct several other LFP manufacturing facilities across North America, with each requiring a similar amount of LFP CAM.
• First Phosphate, ABF and Integrals Power will begin a homologation process where First Phosphate raw source materials and LFP CAM produced by the project will be integrated directly into ABF battery cells and tested in ABF end-user battery storage products.

In March, ABF announced a partnership with China-based Lead Intelligent Equipment (LEAD) to secure custom automation equipment and machinery for use in its Tucson gigafactory.

Produced by LEAD in close collaboration with ABF, the fully automated production line will be built from the ground up to provide a tailored solution for assembly. From mixing and coating to stacking and packaging, ABF says machinery, including the slurry system, cathode and anode laser chamber and turnkey line equipment will cover every key step of the battery cell manufacturing process. In addition, LEAD initially will provide on-site support, including system installation, commissioning and training.

In a news release announcing the partnership, ABF said its efforts with LEAD marked a critical stage in the engineering and production design phase for the gigafactory. ABF hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for the facility in October 2023, and the partnership with LEAD is considered the next step on the path toward finalizing facility engineering details and beginning a robust construction effort in Arizona.

The facility is being built on a 267-acre site in Pima County’s Aerospace Research Campus, and ABF expects it to create up to 1,000 jobs and generate $1.2 billion in capital investment and $3.1 billion in economic impact to the state.