Ascend Elements has secured $300 million in equity and debt financing, including $200 million in Series C equity investments.
The Westborough company announced Wednesday that the new funding, totaling $480 million, came from the U.S. Department of Energy recently to finance the construction of a new sustainable electric vehicle battery materials facility in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. It was funded by two grants.
The Series C funding will help accelerate construction of a facility that will produce sustainably engineered battery materials from recycled lithium-ion batteries, according to a new funding release. Once operational, the new facility will provide materials for up to 250,000 new electric vehicles per year.
“Our investment partners understand the urgent need to produce sustainable lithium-ion battery materials,” Ascend CEO Mike O’Kronley said in a press release. “Simply recycling lithium-ion batteries and recovering metals for global commodity markets is not enough. Our patented closed-loop process goes beyond simple battery recycling. We are manufacturing sustainable, high-performance cathode active materials that can be used directly in
Ascend already has a facility in Georgia with the capacity to produce over 30,000 tons of recycled EV battery materials by the end of 2022. The materials there will be moved to the Kentucky factory to make new batteries. Ascend hopes to recycle more than 150,000 tons of lithium-ion batteries annually by 2026.
