A new battery recycling facility will deepen Kentucky's ties to the electric vehicle sector

A recycling facility will be built in Kentucky to shred electric vehicle batteries in a $65 million venture between American and South Korean companies that will supply material for a separate battery-related operation in the same town, the companies announced Tuesday.

The 100,000-square-foot (9,000-square meter) EV battery recycling facility to be built in Hopkinsville will create about 60 jobs, according to U.S.-based Ascend Elements, which is partnering with South Korea-based SK ecoplant and its electronic-waste recycling subsidiary, TES, on the project. Construction is set to begin in November and be completed in January 2025. Hopkinsville is 170 miles (274 kilometers) southwest of Louisville, Kentucky.

“This is just the beginning of an entirely new industry in the United States," Mike O’Kronley, CEO of Ascend Elements, said in a news release. “For every new EV battery gigafactory that is built, we will need to build a new battery recycling facility to process manufacturing scrap and end-of-life batteries.”

The recycling facility will disassemble and shred about 24,000 metric tons of used EV batteries and gigafactory scrap per year — or approximately 56,000 EV batteries yearly, the company said. The exact location for the new facility hasn't been determined, it said.