LEXINGTON, Ky. — Company Ascend Elements broke ground on its new Hopkinsville industrial site. Called “Apex 1”, the facility will process used lithium-ion batteries into materials that are suitable for freshly minted battery systems.

What You Need To Know

  • Ascend Elements begins construction on new battery facility

  • The plant will be 450,000 square feet

  • Their operation represents investment of $1 billion

  • The site should create 400 full-time jobs

Located inside Hopkinsville’s Commerce Park II complex, Ascend Elements’ operation will occupy 450,000 square feet of space. It’s also expected to create 400 full-time jobs and represents an investment of almost $1 billion.

“This represents opportunity and it’s the type and size of opportunity that can truly be transformational. Not only for Hopkinsville, for all of Southwestern Kentucky,” Carter Hendricks. the Executive Director of South Western Kentucky Economic Development Council, said. 

According to Ascend Elements, the facility will harness the company’s “hydro-to-cathode” process, a closed-loop direct precursor synthesis manufacturing system that generates no toxic waste and minimal carbon emissions.

Once operational, Ascend Elements says the 140 acre facility will be highly productive. In fact, it should produce enough recycled battery precursor and sustainable cathode active materials to equip up to 250,000 electric vehicles each year.

At first, Apex 1 will help supply Ascend Element’s current list of partners. These include American Honda Motor Co., EcoPro Group and SK Battery America. The company expects more contracts EV-related contracts down the road. It anticipates an economic impact of $4.4 billion for Kentucky within 10 years.

“Today, we’ve begun building something that doesn’t exist anywhere in the United States–a domestic source of sustainable lithium-ion cathode material for EV batteries,” said Michael O’Kronley, CEO of Ascend Elements. “We’re in the middle of a global energy transformation and it’s critical that we produce lithium-ion battery material in the United States. Our future energy independence and national security depend on it.”

And this investment is apparently inline with recent developments in the state. According to the Governor’s Office, since June 2020, the commonwealth has seen at least $9.2 billion in EV-related investments, with over 8,500 full-time jobs announced by companies within the sector.

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