Following several other investments in the Commonwealth, the electric vehicle industry has officially landed in west Kentucky. And, in particularly, Christian County.
During his Monday afternoon visit with constituents at the Christian County Courthouse in Hopkinsville, Governor Andy Beshear made a surprise-to-some announcement of Ascend Elements full expectations to locate its largest U.S. facility here — creating 250 full-time jobs behind a $310 million Phase I investment inside Commerce Park II.
A producer of advanced, sustainable battery materials crafted by recycled lithium-ion batteries, Beshear said company officials have already indicated a maximum potential of 400 total jobs and a $1 billion investment — on a campus that will eventually be called “Apex 1.”
It’s the single-largest private-sector investment in Christian County’s history.
The announcement comes less than a year after Executive Director Carter Hendricks and his team at the South Western Kentucky Economic Development Council issued an initiative known as “Charged & Ready,” which profiled Trigg, Christian and Todd County’s preparedness for the electric vehicle industries to potentially locate in west Kentucky.
Now that the day has arrived, Christian County Judge-Executive Steve Tribble said this had been something in the works for several months.
Mayor Wendell Lynch gave a nod to Hendricks, and the work of many others, who helped collaborate to land this investment.
The location will house an innovative “hydro-to-cathode” process. In layman’s terms from the company, Ascend Elements can recycle a 10-year-old battery from a first-generation electric vehicle, break it down to an aqueous solution containing lithium, nickel and cobalt atoms, and then rearrange those atoms into the newest type of cathode active materials.
This process creates no toxic waste and minimal carbon emissions, in what will be a 450,000-square foot enclosed facility on more than 140 acres.
Expected to be fully armed and operational by 2024, Beshear noted the plant will equip more than 250,000 vehicles annually, and already serves a pair of Kentucky EV-related customers in American Honda Motor Company and SK Battery America — which just invested in Elizabethtown.
Beshear added that a performance-based agreement was recently authorized for the organization, providing more than $7 million in tax incentives to Ascend Elements if 250 Kentucky-resident jobs are created within 15 years, and average hourly wages of $34, including benefits, are maintained across those jobs.
Founded in 2015, Ascend Elements is headquartered in Westborough, Massachusetts.
