LANCASTER, Ohio — U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm visited Lancaster Monday to break ground on Cirba Solutions' new $250 million battery recycling facility.
“We have the opportunity to get all of these batteries, whether it is from your phone, or your laptop or your vehicle and take all that material inside, which normally we would be getting from China or other places, and re-use it,” said Granholm.
Once construction is complete, the facility anticipates making 200,000 electric vehicle batteries each year.
Granholm said by recycling the batteries where they’re made, it will help grow the economy and, in the end, make electric cars more affordable.
“The price of the battery is dropping as well. Cirba Solutions and what they are doing to recycle will help bring down the cost of the battery,” she said.
David Klanecky, CEO and President of Cirba Solutions, said the $82 million investment from the federal government for the project is essential. He said the industry is growing fast, and they have to keep up.
“We can’t build plants fast enough to recycle these materials. The goal now is to get assets on the ground, hire people, train people. It’s a new industry so a lot of training has to go on,” said Klanecky.
The building will be complete by the end of 2024 and will be fully operational by the beginning of 2025.