US firm to build $1.3 billion battery materials plant in Poland

US battery firm Ascend Elements has announced plans to build a $1.25 billion (5 billion zloty) battery materials plant in Poland, with backing from the Polish development ministry.

The project will receive a government subsidy of $320 million (1.22 billion zloty), one of the largest grants ever awarded by the Polish state, says the company.

That funding will come from the European Union’s Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework (TCTF), a programme established to support the bloc’s shift to a net-zero economy following the outbreak of war in Ukraine.

The facility will produce precursor cathode active material (pCAM), a key component in the lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles, smart phones and other consumer electronics.

Ascend Elements plans to use its proprietary Hydro-to-Cathode process, which “is much cleaner than traditional battery recycling methods”, said Tomasz Poznar, the company’s vice president of strategy, quoted by media outlet XYZ.

The firm says the project will be developed in two stages and will create at least 200 jobs. Production is expected to begin in 2028.

Ascend Elements has identified a location for the facility in southwestern Poland, though it has not disclosed the exact site. XYZ reports that the plant will be located in the Wałbrzych Special Economic Zone.

The firm said the availability of a suitable site and the government’s financial support were decisive factors in choosing Poland. According to XYZ, the company had considered three other countries.

Ascend Elements already has a presence in Poland through AE Elemental, a joint venture with Elemental Strategic Metals, a Polish recycling firm. It opened a battery recycling facility in Zawiercie in September 2024.

Poznar also highlighted that Poland’s current battery recycling infrastructure is mostly limited to mechanical processing. As a result, the “black mass” created during recycling is often exported to Asia for further refinement, before the materials extracted from it are returned to Europe.

“Our investment will make Europe independent of Asian suppliers and enable battery production without the need to import key materials,” he said, quoted by XYZ.

In recent years, Poland has emerged as Europe’s largest producer of lithium-ion batteries and ranks second globally after China. It is home to Europe’s largest battery plant, operated by LG Energy Solution in Wrocław, which accounts for about half of the EU’s total battery production capacity, according to the International Energy Agency.

However, Poznar warned that high energy costs and limited access to green electricity in Poland could pose challenges for companies in the electromobility sector, including Ascend Elements. He raised concerns that proposed EU emission rules could force businesses to move production out of the country.

Poland has long been one of the most coal-reliant countries in EU. Despite speeding up renewables development in recent years, the country still used coal to generate 56.7% of its electricity last year. Last month, however, coal produced less than half of Poland’s electricity for the first time.

Main image credit: Ascend Elements press materials