US battery recyclers raise $1.5 billion

The US-based battery recyclers Ascend Elements and Redwood Materials have raised a total of $1.5 billion over the past month to establish large-scale facilities that turn used batteries into battery chemicals. Earlier this month, Ascend secured more than $500 million in series D financing to construct a Kentucky facility that will produce nickel-based cathode materials and precursors from recycled batteries. The company has a deal to supply $1 billion worth of recycled battery materials to a US battery manufacturer starting in 2024. Ascend raised more than $700 million from investors and US government grants last year. At the end of August, Redwood announced that it had raised $1 billion in series D financing to increase capacity for recycling and battery materials production. Redwood received conditional approval for a $2 billion US Department of Energy loan earlier this year. The company hopes to produce enough materials for 100 GW h of batteries at a planned facility in South Carolina. It says battery makers will start testing cathode materials from its facility in Nevada later this year.