Heavy-duty electric trucks, buses, and maritime vessels in North America and Europe may soon be powered by recycled battery materials. Ascend Elements, a U.S.-based manufacturer of battery materials, will engineer sustainable cathode active material (CAM) for Freudenberg e-Power Systems. At their XALT Energy battery plant in Midland, Michigan, Freudenberg manufactures battery cells, packs, and systems for applications with high-performance requirements for lifetime, charge time, and safety. These battery solutions are suitable for marine, fuel cell hybrid, heavy-duty commercial transportation, and other applications.
Ascend Elements will design custom-engineered NMC cathode material to meet Freudenberg's precise specifications. The material will be engineered at the Ascend Elements Research & Development Center in Westborough, Massachusetts.
"This contract is further evidence that recycled battery metals can perform as well as virgin metals. Metals are essentially the same whether they come from a mine or a used lithium-ion battery. It's all how you engineer the cathode material," said Ascend Elements CEO Mike O'Kronley. "To win this contract, Freudenberg tested our customized cathode product extensively and found it to have truly exceptional cycle-life results while achieving best-in-class safety."
Ascend Elements is one of North America's first commercial-scale manufacturers of sustainable CAM and cathode precursor (pCAM). The company uses a Hydro-to-Cathode direct precursor synthesis process to manufacture NMC pCAM and CAM recovered from used lithium-ion batteries and battery gigafactory manufacturing scrap. The closed-loop process eliminates several intermediary steps in the traditional cathode manufacturing process.
