Plans scaled back for producing EV battery materials in Hopkinsville as feds cancel grant
The construction site of Ascend Elements Apex I facility on July 9, 2024. The estimated $1 billion project will manufacture cathode active material for the EV battery industry at Commerce Park II on John Rivers Road between Hopkinsville and Pembroke. (Hoptown Chronicle photo by Jennifer P. Brown)
Ascend Elements, the electric vehicle battery materials manufacturer that is constructing a plant in Hopkinsville's Commerce Park II, is scaling back some of its plans for production at the local facility.
Ascend and the U.S. Department of Energy mutually agreed to cancel a $164 million federal grant for part of the manufacturing infrastructure at the company's Apex 1 facility, the company announced.
Because of 'changing market conditions,' Ascend is canceling plans at the Hopkinsville facility for production of cathode active material, or CAM, a main component in lithium-ion batteries. However, it will produce precursor cathode active material, or pCAM, and lithium carbonate in Hopkinsville.
A separate $316 million Department of Energy grant for the pCAM infrastructure at Ascend remains active, according to the company's statement. According to federal spending records, Ascend has received $205 million of that grant.
Initially, company representatives and local and state economic development officials said the plant would employ 250 workers, based on a $310 million investment.
However, days before a ground-breaking ceremony in October 2022, federal officials announced additional investments with $480 million in Department of Energy grant funds — $164 million for CAM manufacturing infrastructure and $316 million for pCAM manufacturing infrastructure. The grant came from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed during President Joe Biden's administration.
'It's the largest economic development project in Christian County,' Gov. Andy Beshear said at the ground-breaking ceremony. 'And now … the largest investment in Western Kentucky.'
Officials projected that future expansion could push the project to a $1 billion investment employing 400 or more people.
It was not immediately clear how eliminating the CAM infrastructure line will affect the size of Ascend's workforce.
'We are grateful to the U.S. DOE for selecting Ascend Elements to receive this funding, but current market conditions do not support advancement of the CAM project at Apex 1,' said Roger Lin, vice president of government affairs at Ascend Elements. 'We are 100% committed to completing construction of the Apex 1 campus in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, but the facility will only produce pCAM and lithium carbonate, a critical mineral. We're just not seeing significant market demand for CAM right now, but we have buyers lined up to purchase sustainable, domestically produced pCAM and lithium carbonate.'
Ascend's Apex 1 facility is projected to be operational in the third quarter of 2026.
This story is republished from Hoptown Chronicle.
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