A Canadian lithium battery recycler warned Monday it could go out of business, representing a blow to efforts to build a U.S. electric vehicle supply chain.
Li-Cycle received a $475 million loan from the Department of Energy last year to build a lithium recycling factory in Rochester, New York. But in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company warned it would go out of business without a cash injection, saying it did not have enough money to fund its operations, repay its debts or meet the requirements needed to access the DOE loan.
“There is substantial doubt about Li-Cycle’s ability to continue as a going concern and to achieve or sustain profitability,” the company wrote in the filing.
Li-Cycle was among a handful of lithium recyclers that rushed to take advantage of former President Joe Biden’s efforts to boost electric vehicle sales. Its business plan was relatively simple in theory: Recycle metals like lithium, cobalt and nickel from old EV batteries, as well as the scrap leftover from the process of making new ones, and turn them into battery-grade materials. Its Rochester plant was touted as potentially becoming one of the largest U.S. sources of lithium used by EVs.
