The Next Big Battery Material Squeeze Is Old Batteries

September 1, 2022

Original interview published via BNN Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) — A global rush into battery recycling is good news for automakers worried about future raw material supplies. But the wave of new factories poses a big risk for the recycling industry itself: there’s nowhere near enough scrap yet to feed them all.

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The biggest bottleneck is likely to be for the companies focused mainly on processing black mass, according to Ajay Kochhar, the chief executive officer and co-founder of Canadian recycling startup Li-Cycle Holdings Corp. The company plans to produce high-value chemicals at a new $485 million facility in Rochester, New York. The company’s rapid expansion has attracted the attention of short sellers skeptical about its technology and development costs, but it received a vote of confidence with a $200 million investment this year by mining giant Glencore.

“Supply for us is not an issue, we have more batteries than we can typically handle,” Kochhar said. “But there is a question about how that will evolve for the industry as a whole.”

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