Ascend Elements has landed a deal with a United States manufacturer to supply high-nickel, NMC cathode precursor called pCAM to the rapidly growing lithium-ion battery industry.
According to a news release, the multi-year contract is to supply roughly $1 billion worth of pCAM for use in a U.S. company battery manufacturing process beginning in 2024. The company has the option to expand that contract to a larger amount, up to $5 billion.
This deal will likely impact the facility Ascend Elements is constructing in Hopkinsville in Commerce Park #2, as it will be one of North America’s first commercial-scale pCAM manufacturing facilities. The facility will have the capacity to production NMC pCAM for up to 750,000 electric vehicles per year.
In October of 2022, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded two matching grants totaling $480 million to Ascend Elements to help accelerate construction of the facility. Overall, the company plans to invest more than $1 billion in the Hopkinsville location.
Ascend Elements CEO Mike O’Kronley says, “Nearly 100 percent of the world’s pCAM is produced in Asia. There is no reason we can’t manufacture critical battery materials like this in the United States. In fact, we need to manufacture our own battery materials to secure the supply chain in North America, reduce carbon emissions and ensure our energy independence.”