Ascend Elements to invest up to $1B in new Kentucky facility
Ascend Elements
An artist's rendering of Ascend Elements' new Apex 1 facility in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.
A Westborough manufacturing company plans to invest up to $1 billion for a new, 500,000-square-foot production facility it plans to open in Kentucky.
Ascend Elements said in a Monday press release it will build a sustainable lithium ion battery materials recycling facility on 140 acres in Hopkinsville, Ky.
The project, which will break ground by the end of the year, will be home to Ascend’s hydro-to-cathode direct precursor synthesis process technology, which takes in black mass from recycled electric vehicle batteries, and produces enough lithium ion battery precursor and sustainable cathode active material to equip up to 250,000 electric vehicles per year.
The site, called Apex 1, will feature onsite chemical recycling capabilities and a wastewater treatment plant.
The company looked at more than 50 locations for the facility, but Hopkinsville was the only one with everything the company needed: easy access to transportation, clean renewable power, and a diverse workforce.
Hopkinsville is close to electric vehicle manufacturers and lithium ion battery factories in the southeastern U.S. and an Ascend battery recycling facility in Covington, Ga., which will be a key source of its black mass.
Operations are expected to begin in late 2023, and at full buildout, Apex 1 could employ 400, according to the company. The facility is expected to generate $4.4 billion in economic impact to Kentucky over the construction period and first 10 years of operations.
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