US Battery Belt Grows With $1 Billion Kentucky Cathode Deal
Ascend Elements won a contract to produce key battery materials for 750,000 electric cars a year.
Critical battery materials recycled and reprocessed in America.
Photo courtesy of Ascend Elements
For years, the US electric vehicle industry has grappled with two supply-chain issues: how to source critical materials for battery production, and what to do with old batteries once they’re spent. A deal announced today by Ascend Elements aims to address both challenges.
The Massachusetts-based maker of battery materials said it has reached a billion-dollar deal with an unnamed automaker to reprocess old batteries into cathode material, a substance that’s responsible for more than one third of the expense of a finished EV battery pack. Ascend is building a cathode plant in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and plans to begin deliveries next year.