The lithium-ion battery recycling and manufacturing company Battery Resourcers announced this week it has completed a $20 million Series B investment round led by Orbia Ventures with participation from At One Ventures, TDK Ventures, TRUMPF Venture, Doral Energy-Tech Ventures and Jaguar Land Rover’s InMotion Ventures. The company has not disclosed its current valuation.
Battery Resourcers has a different approach from other major battery recyclers. While others focus on recovering the metals, including aluminum, nickel, cobalt and copper, within the batteries for resale, the company focuses on recovering those metals along with the active material found within the cathode to recycle the material into a new battery.
“Battery Resourcers is on the verge of revolutionizing the lithium-ion battery supply chain,” said CEO Mike O’Kronley in the release. “Being able to convert scrap and end-of-life battery materials into finished, cathode active material that can be directly used in making new batteries drives increased profitability and stability for the lithium-ion battery ecosystem. Our investment partners share our vision and passion for scaling this revolutionary process to support the battery material supply chain.”
Lithium is the main element in larger batteries used to charge electric vehicles (EVs) and is in high demand as a number of automotive manufacturers continue to transition away from fossil fuels that create a large amount of greenhouse gas, according to a U.S. Geological Survey report.
As FreightWaves reported previously, global production of lithium was estimated to triple by 2025, with sales growing to $67.6 billion by 2022. North America is expected to mine only 5% of the world’s lithium by 2025, making Battery Resourcers’ recycling strategy important for domestic EV manufacturers.
“The recycling of critical battery components into cathode active material is a value leap in getting to sustainable and scalable production of lithium-ion batteries,” said Sameer Bharadqaj, CEO of Orbia Ventures. “By integrating refinement and materials engineering processes, we believe Battery Resourcers’ approach can stabilize the cathode supply chain in North America while accelerating the shift to a clean, circular future — a goal we are very much invested in at Orbia as we seek to generate innovative solutions that advance life around the world.”
Battery Resourcers plans to use the funds to develop a commercial-scale processing facility to process 10,000 tons of batteries, approximately the same amount of batteries it takes to power 20,000 electric vehicles.
The company currently is operating a demonstration-scale facility in Worcester, Massachusetts, and an analytical testing facility in Novi, Michigan.