Battery recycling firm Cirba Solutions has announced a phase 1 investment exceeding $300 million for the construction of a lithium-ion electric vehicle battery recycling flagship facility in South Carolina.
The new battery materials campus, spanning more than 200 acres, is expected to create over 300 jobs and will be located near Columbia, South Carolina in Richland County. Construction will begin this year, with operations expected to start in late 2024.
This will be the company’s eighth operational facility in North America and its fourth strategically located in the U.S. Battery Belt, an area that has announced more than 15 new lithium-ion battery gigafactories or expansions since 2021, between Michigan and Georgia.
Cirba says it plans to invest more than $1 billion in the next five years to expand the infrastructure required to meet the rising demand for critical materials needed for EV batteries.
The new facility will process end-of-life hybrid and electric vehicle batteries, gigafactory scrap, and end-of-life consumer batteries to extract critical materials like lithium, cobalt and nickel, which will support the domestic lithium-ion battery supply chain. This flagship facility is expected to provide enough premium recycled, battery-grade materials to power more than 500,000 EV batteries per year. (More on this story below links)
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Apart from creating jobs, Cirba intends to partner and giving back to the communities where it operates through outreach and career paths. Its new facility will also function as an educational and professional training center, with a focus on clean energy and thoughtful operational practices for processing materials and converting them into reusable battery materials.
“This flagship battery materials site is crucial to the success of North America’s battery supply chain and is strategically located to support our partners,” said Luke Kissam, Chairman of Cirba Solutions Board.
The South Carolina campus is in addition to Cirba’s expanded facilities in Lancaster in Ohio and Trail in British Columbia, Canada.
“The State of South Carolina and Richland County have been tremendous partners in supporting Cirba Solutions’ strategy to build a sustainable battery materials supply chain,” said David Klanecky, President and CEO of Cirba Solutions. “We are proud to bring this battery materials mega-site to Richland County, which will create generational jobs in the state and support an amazing community. Additionally, it shows our commitment to provide sustainably sourced and domestic battery-grade raw materials for cathode production in North America.”
Cirba is the latest of more than a dozen companies announcing plans for locating battery manufacturing or recycling operations in the U.S. since passage of the Biden Administration's Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Act. Those include Panasonic Energy, LG Energy Solutions, Microvast, AESC Envision, Fluence Energy, FREYR Battery, Ultium Cells, Canoo, Factorial Energy, Ecobat, Stellantis and Samsung SDI.
