A recycling facility will be built in Kentucky to shred electric vehicle batteries in a $65 million venture between American and South Korean companies that will supply material for a separate battery-related operation in the same town, the companies announced Tuesday.
“This is just the beginning of an entirely new industry in the United States," Mike O’Kronley, CEO of Ascend Elements, said in a news release. “For every new EV battery gigafactory that is built, we will need to build a new battery recycling facility to process manufacturing scrap and end-of-life batteries.”
SK ecoplant will be the majority owner, holding 64% of the new joint venture, with Ascend Elements owning 25% and TES owning 11%, according to the release. Since 2022, SK ecoplant has invested more than $60 million in Massachusetts-based Ascend Elements. The new facility each year will produce about 12,000 metric tons of black mass — a powder that contains the valuable cathode and anode materials inside an electric vehicle battery, the company said.