EV battery materials manufacturer Ascend Elements and the professional services firm Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) are collaborating on the road to net zero carbon emissions. Ascend Elements recently selected EY US to develop a complex logistics simulation model in preparation for the Q1 2025 startup of its one-million-square-foot Apex 1 EV battery materials (pCAM) manufacturing facility in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. The Apex 1 campus will employ over 400 people and produce sustainable engineered battery materials for up to 750,000 electric vehicles per year.

As you can imagine, a project of this size and scope requires a lot of logistics planning,” said Rodrigo Almeida, Sr. Director of Supply Chain at Ascend Elements. “EY US is using its experience and insight to help us anticipate logistical challenges and optimize our operations to achieve world-class efficiency and minimal impact on the community.”

The facility will receive truckloads of recycled battery feedstock every day and ship over 450 metric tons of new, sustainable pCAM materials per week. The EY US logistics model can run simulations under many different scenarios to determine the most efficient way to operate the plant and manage traffic flow. “While the plant will bring new truck traffic to the area, we are actually creating a net reduction of carbon emissions by offsetting the need to ship newly mined battery materials from Asia,” Almeida said.

“Knowledge is power, especially for EV battery material manufacturing and recycling,” said Felipe Smolka, EY Americas Automotive eMobility Leader. “It’s been impactful working with Ascend Elements to predict possible logistical challenges and opportunities, as the transition planning will help inform manufacturing operations. At EY US, we believe the energy transition is a critical aspect of the automotive industry’s future and one that manufacturers must consider.”

“We had a lot of questions about traffic flow and timing that the simulation helped us understand,” said Bruno Feitosa, an industrial engineer at Ascend Elements. “How many trucks can the site accommodate at one time? Will trucks have room to queue up onsite without creating unnecessary traffic on local roads? How long will it take to load and unload each truck? Do we need to take deliveries 24 hours a day, or can we load and unload in the daytime only? Understanding the answers to these questions is essential to plan for optimal efficiency and safety.”

Ascend Elements’ Apex 1 facility in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, will be North America’s first sustainable cathode precursor (pCAM) manufacturing facility. CAM and pCAM are engineered materials made to precise microstructure specifications for use in electric vehicle batteries. While most of the world’s pCAM and CAM are made in China from primary (mined) metals, US-based Ascend Elements is commercializing an ultraefficient method to make sustainable pCAM and CAM from black mass, the traditional output of lithium-ion battery recycling facilities. The patented Hydro-to-Cathode® direct precursor synthesis process eliminates several intermediary steps in the traditional cathode manufacturing process and provides significant economic and carbon-reduction benefits. Based in Westborough, Massachusetts, Ascend Elements is a leading provider of sustainable, closed-loop battery material solutions. From EV battery recycling to commercial-scale production of lithium carbonate and NMC precursor (pCAM) and cathode active materials (CAM), Ascend Elements is revolutionizing the production of sustainable lithium-ion battery materials.