Phoenix Suburb Lands Major EV Battery Plant
Ecobat’s first U.S. facility will recycle materials needed for the growing number of electric vehicles.
Image by paulbr75 via pixabay.com
Ecobat, reportedly the world’s largest recycler of batteries, will build its third lithium-ion battery recycling facility—and its first in North America—in Casa Grande, Ariz.
The facility is intended to initially produce an estimated 10,000 tons of recycled material per year, with plans to expand capacity to satisfy the increasing need to recycle lithium-ion batteries from the growing numbers of electric vehicles.
The Casa Grande facility will repurpose lithium-ion batteries reaching the end of their useful lives, by a process including sorting, shredding and separation “to produce a concentrated black mass containing the valuable materials in lithium-ion batteries,” Ecobat explained in a prepared statement.
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The building is at 1474 N. Vip Blvd. and was previously used by a fiberglass manufacturer. With assistance from CBRE, Ecobat acquired it from an owner that did not occupy the facility. No dollar amount is being disclosed.
The property has 55,000 square feet of warehouse with office space attached to the front and an additional building at the rear for battery storage. The facility is large enough to accommodate future expansion in addition to Ecobat’s current needs.
The operation is targeting commissioning in the third quarter, after necessary facility updates are completed, an Ecobat spokesperson told Commercial Property Executive.
The location is approximately 10 acres and has rail access in the rear. It’s about 1 mile from an existing Ecobat Resources Arizona facility, which has been manufacturing battery anodes for 15 years.
Casa Grande is in Pinal County, about midway between Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz.
Ecobat is based in Dallas, but has multiple operational sites worldwide. In 2021, its lead battery recycling business fully recycled 70 million car batteries. The company already operates lithium-ion battery recycling facilities in Germany and the U.K.
Electric mecca
With the addition of the Ecobat facility, Arizona has become a central hub of energy storage and recycling technologies, Sandra Watson, president & CEO of the Arizona Commerce Authority, commented in prepared remarks.
She isn’t wrong. Last summer, for example, high-tech battery manufacturer KORE Power announced plans to build a 2 million-square-foot, $1.25 billion lithium-ion battery gigafactory in Buckeye, Ariz. The company had previously intended to build “only” a 1 million-square-foot facility at the 214-acre site 40 miles from Phoenix.
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