Westborough EV battery recycling firm officially expands to Europe, with opening of Poland facility
Photo | Courtesy of Ascend Elements
Officials from Ascend Elements and Poland-based Elemental Strategic Materials cut a ribbon during the opening of a battery recycling facility in Zawiercie, Poland, the result of a joint venture between the two firms.
Ascend Elements, a Westborough-based company that recycles former electric vehicle battery components into materials used to construct new batteries, has opened a jointly operated plant in Poland.
The battery recycling plant is located in Zawiercie, Poland. Capable of processing approximately 28,000 EV battery packs per year, the plant is the result of a joint venture with Poland-based Elemental Strategic Materials.
The project was first announced by the two firms in April; the two companies have plans for another plant in Germany.
“This is a significant milestone for Ascend Elements, representing our first commercial-scale battery recycling facility in Europe. We’re pleased to be working closely with Elemental Strategic Metals in this beautiful facility,” Mike O’Kronley, CEO of Ascend Elements, said in a Thursday press release announcing the grand opening of the facility. “Expanding into Europe will allow us to better service our customers locally and help the industry comply with new EU rules requiring recycled material in new batteries.”
The plant will disassemble, discharge, and shred EV batteries, producing what’s known as black mass, a material used to make newly engineered batteries. The companies plan to add commercial-scale lithium extraction capabilities to the site in the fall, with plans for those capabilities to be operational in 2026.
In September 2023, Ascend Elements announced a partnership with a South Korean firm to construct a battery recycling facility in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, with Ascend later tasking a U.K firm to sort out logistics of the $1-billion facility.
The company is planning on moving its headquarters from Westborough to Devens, a move scheduled to be completed by the end of September.
Eric Casey is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.
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