Wear & Tear Make Old Electric Batteries Stronger Than New At This Startup

A big appeal of electric vehicles (EVs) is them being more environmentally friendly than the traditional gas and diesel option. It’s a rapidly growing industry with much interest and hype surrounding it. 

However, in a rather ironic twist, EVs’ battery-powered lifespans may end up being worse for the environment at their end of life. Most batteries today wind up as toxic trash, which poses a huge sustainability hazard unless something changes. 

In an effort to mitigate this, a startup called Ascend Elements is pioneering a recycling solution to ensure that EVs can be truly sustainable, even down to their very last days. 

To do this, the firm takes lithium-ion batteries found in most EVs today, alongside devices like smartphones and laptops, and shreds them. After being sieved and filtered numerous times, the batteries turn into a powder called “black mass.” 

This process takes around a week to carry out and is called “Hydro-to-Cathod,” as reported by news outlet WBUR. 

Impurities are also removed from the powder, which leaves behind “valuable EV metals.” While producing no toxic waste, unlike regular battery disposal, the process is capable of recovering close to all the metals required. 

The finished product, a battery cathode, is then flexible enough for EV manufacturers to adopt it for their needs. 

According to Yan Wang, one of Ascend Elements’ co-founders, the recycled cathodes can create batteries that charge “two or three times faster” than conventional ones, with “at least” a 30% longer life cycle. 

The process also reduces carbon emissions by up to 93%, since recycling doesn’t require transporting the materials internationally during production.

Ascend Elements is planning on taking this large-scale. A news release from earlier this month states that “North America’s largest lithium-ion battery recycling facility” will be opening in Covington, Georgia, by August 2022. 

This brand new 154,000-square-foot facility will produce around 30,000 metric tons of lithium-ion material per year. 

[via WBUR and Ascend Elements, image via Ascend Elements]