The University of Akron is getting $2 million from the feds to help recycle electric car batteries

WASHINGTON, DC. As part of efforts to promote the recycling of electric vehicle components, the US Department of Energy is awarding a $2 million grant to the University of Akron.

The university will use a grant from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act to help eliminate the flow of plastics/polymers from spent electric vehicle battery packs to landfills while extracting and recycling them for use as raw materials for new batteries.

In announcing the grants, the Energy Department noted that more than 4 million electric vehicles have been sold in the United States during the Biden administration, more than double the number purchased in all previous years.

Demand for electric vehicles and stationary storage is projected to increase the size of the lithium battery market five to ten times by the end of the decade, making it important for the US to prioritize investments to accelerate the development of a reliable domestic high-capacity battery supply chain.

Akron’s money was among $45 million it announced for eight projects across the country to recycle batteries and other components for electric vehicles.

They are designed to reduce costs associated with the transportation, dismantling and pretreatment of spent electric drive batteries for recycling, as well as the recycling of plastic and polymer electric drive battery components, the energy department said.