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Georgia's Newest Gold Mine Is an EV Battery Recycling Plant

Covington, Georgia, now hosts America’s largest battery recycling facility. Given the current trend of the automotive industry, this is another win for the U.S. Carmakers, and their battery manufacturing partners will have another reason to ramp up production and believe in a profitable zero-tailpipe emission future.
Ascend Elements Facility 8 photos
Photo: Maurice Carter on Facebook
Ascend ElementsAscend ElementsAscend ElementsAscend ElementsAscend ElementsMining for EV Battery PacksBEV vs ICE
One thing that’s been known by EV detractors for quite some time now is that battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) come with a larger initial carbon footprint than internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs). While that’s true, it’s also important to consider that building up mileage will eventually make the BEV cleaner than the fossil fuel-burning ICEV.

A Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS – yes, it’s a real thing) report from last year claims that a Tesla Model 3 will have a significantly smaller impact on the environment than a BMW 330i after 21,000 miles (33,700 kilometers). The same document also underlines that everywhere in the United States, driving the average BEV results in lower emissions than the average new gasoline vehicle.

“Most of the global warming emissions over the lifespan of a vehicle occur during its use, so the reductions from driving an EV more than offset the higher emissions from manufacturing,” explained the authors. Now, factor in the fact that BEVs do not need to use their braking system as often as ICEVs, and you get yet another point in favor of the zero-tailpipe emission powertrain.

BEV vs ICE
Photo: GasTroll on YouTube
Considering the federal government’s push to decarbonize the U.S. road transport sector through various measures like the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI), and the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) Discretionary Grant Program, we can understand why hundreds of billions of dollars in new investments are pouring into the American economy. Tesla proved BEVs can work marvelously, and the legacy industry is playing catch up. Until everyone else figures out how to beat the now Texas-based company at its own game, one thing remains clear – we’re on track to turn BEVs mainstream.

Doing it right

So, a couple of challenges arise. Replacing all the ICEVs with BEVs won’t change much. Our cities will still be congested, albeit roads might become a tad bit quieter since there will be no engines and exhausts making noises. And if we want to pursue the greener path, then all the batteries that go into our current or future cars must not be abandoned after they become unusable.

It may sound like something we need to do now, but this has been on the mind of the automotive industry since 2009. That’s when Nissan tried to figure out how to prolong their vehicles’ battery lifespan by giving them another use. The automaker came up with a system called the 4R – Reuse, Resell, Refabricate, and Recycle. They set up a new company, and the strategy worked! The batteries taken from cars are repurposed and continue to work for at least another decade. So, there’s a chance that your BEV might need a new battery after 10-15 years, but the replaced energy storage unit won’t be abandoned in a random pit somewhere. It’ll continue to remain in the ecosystem either in a solar farm or wind park.

The major challenge, however, is recycling. Let’s imagine we’re in 2030, and most of the cars in the U.S. are BEVs from various companies. Some that are being sold today will most likely need a new battery after nine or ten years. So, you won’t have just tens of thousands of Nissan Leaf units ditching their energy storage units but potentially millions of cars and trucks.

Mining for EV Battery Packs
Photo: Pixabay, Tesla
To make sure that mining for metals like copper, iron, lithium, cobalt, or nickel needed in the automotive industry won’t destroy new ecosystems in some parts of the world like it already happens in Thacker Pass, Nevada, reusing some of the existing materials is paramount. That’s also a great way to make sure that the carbon footprint of a BEV will remain consistently lower as time goes by. The shorter supply chain will also be of help in this regard.

It’s also a reassurance for automakers and their battery manufacturing partners that need to secure these materials. If you can recycle some of the metals, there’s a high chance that there’ll be no lithium shortages, so no pricing crisis can happen because of this. Plus, production can continue uninterrupted!

The solution is now here, in America

Coarsely, when a battery starts to degrade (aka dying), some parts of it break down and allow for elements to mix or touch even though they shouldn’t. If the chemical compound is incorrectly mixed and the positive can’t separate from the negative, it simply won’t hold a charge. That’s where the recycling facility jumps in. In an ideal scenario, it should be capable of separating and re-purifying the individual materials.

Thankfully, it appears that Ascend Elements is ready to do just that. And it’s not a test or a prolonged experiment, but a company that repurposed an old facility (how inspiring!) and is now ready to hire nearly 200 people who will help with recycling 30,000 U.S. tons (27,216 metric tons) of battery material every year. That should be enough to build 70,000 new EV batteries, according to people who have witnessed the inauguration and were given a glimpse into how things will work.

Ascend Elements
Photo: Maurice Carter on Facebook
As Nissan did, they’ll first focus on giving the battery pack a second life. If that’s not possible, then it will enter the recycling process. The company’s recycling plan is to shred the energy storage units, introduce them into a process called leaching (using water or some other liquid to remove soluble matter from a solid), extract the impurities, start cathode production, and end it all with battery manufacturing.

“Ascend Elements reduces the need for manufacturers like SK Battery America to import raw materials, lowering the environmental impacts and costs associated with battery manufacturing at multiple stages,” explained the Georgia Department of Economic Development.

But there’s a challenge these recycling initiatives might have to face soon – the sodium-ion battery. It doesn’t pack the same energy density as a Li-Ion unit, but it behaves better in colder temperatures and is a lot cheaper to manufacture because the most important raw material – sodium – is abundant everywhere in the world.

Now, if only Rivian could convince detractors from the Peach State about its second manufacturing plant contributing to the local economy… That would be great for the state of Georgia, the entire BEV ecosystem, and American car buyers.
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About the author: Florin Amariei
Florin Amariei profile photo

Car shows on TV and his father's Fiat Tempra may have been Florin's early influences, but nowadays he favors different things, like the power of an F-150 Raptor. He'll never be able to ignore the shape of a Ferrari though, especially a yellow one.
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