As consumer tastes continue to favor electric vehicles, automakers are moving quickly to lock in key battery materials. Advances in battery recycling technology will ease the transition and unlock the true potential of sustainability behind electric vehicles. Li-Cycle’s new EV battery recycling plant in Alabama can process up to 10,000 tonnes, enough for about 20,000 EVs per year, helping meet the US’ challenge to a zero-emission economy.
Li-Cycle’s mission is to “create an environmentally sustainable supply of critical battery materials” to support the automotive industry’s transition to electric vehicles.
The company’s Spoke & Hub Technologies uses proprietary hydrometallurgical processing methods. This method is an alternative to the pyrometallurgical method that Li-Cycle believes will reduce costs while saving energy.
Li-Cycle’s processing method is specifically designed as a two-part system that recycles battery manufacturing scrap and turns used batteries into black lumps.
The black mass is processed and used to produce battery minerals such as nickel sulphate, lithium carbonate and cobalt sulphate. These are the three most important factors for an EV battery. According to the battery recycling company, li-Cycle believes its method allows efficiency rates of up to 95%, compared to his 50% industry average.
Perhaps, and more importantly, the Li-Cycle process creates a safe way to recycle lithium-ion batteries without landfill waste while reducing our carbon footprint.
Li-Cycle already has three battery recycling plants in North America, two in the US (New York, Arizona) and one in Ontario. A fourth and newest facility in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, will increase capacity to 30,000 tons per year.
Li-Cycle Increases U.S. Battery Recycling Capacity with New AL Facility
Located at the heart of Alabama’s EV manufacturing boom, Li-Cycle’s third US EV battery recycling plant has officially opened.
The new Alabama Lithium Ion Recycling Facility is over 100,000 square feet and houses approximately 120,000 square feet of additional warehouse space. With the ability to process 10,000 tons of EV battery material per year, the company can now recycle his 60,000 EV batteries across North America.
Li-Cycle CEO Ajay Kochar explained how the new facility can help meet the growing demand for EVs.
The facility will enhance our ability to support the recycling needs of our diverse and growing customer base in North America so that lithium-ion battery materials are recycled in an environmentally friendly and safe manner. Li-Cycle makes domestic supply of recycled materials essential to support EV production and help automakers meet domestic production content requirements.
Li-Cycle expects to have a recycling capacity of about 65,000 tons of EV battery materials across its network by the end of next year.
Alabama’s EV battery recycling plant is strategically located in the Southeastern United States, one of the biggest beneficiaries of the burgeoning EV market, already bringing in $33 billion to the region. increase.
Electrek take
Several large climate bills passed since early 2021 are already working as designed, boosting EV adoption. US EV share hit a new record in the quarter, accounting for his 5.6% of total vehicle sales.
These numbers are expected to accelerate in the coming years, making battery recycling critical in building a sustainable transport sector.
The U.S. plans to reach 50% EV share of total vehicle sales by 2030, and recycling technologies like Li-Cycle can secure the battery minerals to get there.
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