Leaders tour Ontario spoke facility to witness ongoing battery recycling efforts.

Shortly after receiving approval for a US$375 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing loan program, Li-Cycle Holdings Corp. was visited by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Joined by Li-Cycle co-founders Ajay Kochhar and Tim Johnston, the group observed lithium-ion batteries being recycled at the company's spoke facility in Kingston, Ontario.

During the visit, the leaders discussed the importance of Li-Cycle's innovative and sustainable battery recycling technology, which aims to support the clean energy transition in both North America and Europe.

"We are excited to have hosted Prime Minister Trudeau and President von der Leyen at our Ontario Spoke," said Li-Cycle CEO Kochhar. "As a Canadian company, we were honoured to have the privilege and opportunity to showcase our innovative and sustainable Spoke technology to Prime Minister Trudeau and President von der Leyen. Li-Cycle plays an essential role in creating a domestic supply of battery materials in Canada and Europe to help further drive electrification."

Proven to recover up to 95% of an original lithium-ion battery's materials, Li-Cycle's spoke facilities reclaim cathode materials – lithium, nickel, cobalt, and manganese – and the anode material graphite, which are then all isolated into a mixed material known in the industry as black mass and extracted at separate hub facilities to be reused in new batteries.

As the first stage of Li-Cycle's vertically integrated business, spokes have been designed as satellite centers strategically positioned around centralized hub facilities.

With the recent DOE loan to help fund its first hub facility destined for Rochester, New York, along with the eventual development of eight more spokes to complete its localized battery material recycling supply chain, the wheels can begin turning on the critical materials needed to fuel electric vehicle production.

Already, the company has constructed four out of a planned 12 spokes capable of recycling more than 50,000 metric tons of lithium-ion battery material per year. Located in Ontario, New York, Arizona, and Alabama, these establish a growing footprint in key strategic regions to support the recycling needs of its growing battery supply customer base.

"As Li-Cycle expands upon its significant first mover advantage in the North American market, we continue to advance our global growth strategy and progress with the deployment of our technologies in Europe," said Li-Cycle Executive Chairman Johnston. "We believe that Prime Minister Trudeau's and President von der Leyen's visit further reinforces Li-Cycle's exceptional value proposition for Canada's and Europe's burgeoning battery supply chain, also as we expect to operationalize our largest Spoke facility to-date in Germany later this year."

Li-Cycle's first European spoke is reportedly planned for Germany, near the city of Magdeburg, and is expected to be the company's largest facility to date. Aiming for a total processing capacity of roughly 30,000 metric tons of battery material per year, the Germany spoke is expected to have two main lines capable of processing full EV packs without dismantling, in addition to ancillary processing capacity, and is scheduled to be operational in the second half of the year.

The battery recycling company is also developing a European spoke facility near the city of Moss, Norway.

In addition to its European plans, the company is currently progressing with plans to develop a new spoke and warehouse facility in Kingston to replace the existing site, with the initial site work expected to begin this year.

As part of the second stage of its vertically integrated network, Li-Cycle will process recovered black mass to produce battery-grade lithium battery material at its first commercial hub facility, which is currently under construction in Rochester, New York.

Expected to create the first source of recycled battery-grade lithium carbonate in North America, the Rochester hub is designed to have a processing capacity of 35,000 metric tons of black mass per year, equivalent to roughly 90,000 metric tons or 18 gigawatt-hours of lithium-ion batteries.

Once fully operational, this first Li-Cycle hub facility is expected to deliver annual production of approximately 7,500 to 8,500 metric tons of battery-grade lithium carbonate, 42,000 to 48,000 metric tons of battery-grade nickel sulfate, and 6,500 to 7,500 metric tons of battery-grade cobalt sulfate, in addition to other valuable materials.