Lithium-ion battery recycler Li-Cycle Holdings Corp. reports a near doubling of revenues in its Q4 financial report, to $13.4 million for 2022 from $7.3 million in 2021.

Mississauga-based Li-Cycle’s (LICY-N) patented Spoke and Hub technology can recycle all types of lithium batteries. It can also utilize the scrap discarded during battery production.

“Spoke” facilities collect and break down the waste batteries into recyclable elements. The Hub then takes the byproduct and turns it into reusable materials.

Spoke facilities convert the material into three main product streams: plastics, copper/aluminum, and the “black mass” which contains metals essential to battery production including lithium carbonate, nickel sulfate and cobalt sulfate. Other marketable metals in black mass include graphite, copper and aluminum.

“We are pleased by our strong fourth quarter operating performance as we brought on our third-generation Arizona and Alabama Spokes, which have a first-of-its-kind full battery pack processing capabilities," Ajay Kochhar, Li-Cycle’s president and CEO said in a statement.

"Also significant, at our Rochester Hub, we made meaningful progress on engineering, procurement, and construction, keeping us in-line with our targeted budget and schedule, with commissioning expected to commence in late calendar 2023."

Li-Cycle looks ahead to 2023

Its Rochester Hub has a budget of approximately $486 million.

In 2023, the company expects to increase its total operational capacity to just over 80,000 tonnes lithium-ion battery material input per year versus its current capacity of just over 50,000 tonnes per year.

Operating expenses in Q4 increased to $39.4 million versus $18.5 million in Q4 2021.

“As the world continues to electrify, the need for environmentally and economically sustainable recycling solutions will only continue to accelerate,” Tim Johnston, Li-Cycle’s co-founder and executive chairman, said in an April email interview with Sustainable Biz. “In line with the rapidly growing demand for lithium-ion battery recycling, our goal is to continue to grow in lockstep with our customers.”

FLO appoints chief manufacturing operations officer

Electric vehicle (EV) charging network operator and smart charging solutions provider FLO has appointed Martine St-Onge as the chief manufacturing operations officer starting Feb. 6.

"Momentum for EVs is building fast, and Martine will play a key role in helping FLO execute its ambitious growth strategy while continuing to provide EV drivers with the best charging experience," Louis Tremblay, FLO's president and CEO said in a statement.

St-Onge will be responsible for the development and implementation of FLO's manufacturing, procurement and logistics strategy. She will manage the three FLO assembly plants, as well as the implementation of future plants to meet the growing demand for smart EV charging solutions.

She has previously worked at Bombardier, Hershey Canada, Abitibi-Consolidated Inc. and Abitibibowater Inc. 

FLO has installed over 75,000 fast and level 2 EV charging stations at public, private and residential locations.

CIB invests in Calgary’s zero-emission buses

The Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) has invested $165 million toward the City of Calgary’s purchase of 259 zero-emission battery electric buses by 2027.

A release states this will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 10,000 tonnes per year. The city will own and operate these buses via Calgary Transit.

The investment is part of the CIB’s $1.5 billion zero-emission bus initiative. Overall, the CIB will invest up to $5 billion into public transit projects which support sustainable economic growth.

“. . . The CIB is accelerating Calgary's path to net-zero and is enabling cleaner public transportation for future generations,” Ehren Cory, the CIB’s CEO said in a statement.

“As part of our mandate, we partner with public transit owners and service providers across the country to provide Canadians with cleaner and faster commutes.”

Lifetime fuelling and maintenance costs for a zero-emission bus could be up to 50 per cent lower than a diesel bus.

Canada has a goal of having 5,000 zero-emission buses across the country.

Canadian government introduces new intake model for ZEVIP

The Canadian government is accepting applications from not-for-profit organizations, public institutions and governments to locally deliver federal funding from the Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program (ZEVIP).

The application process, available in 2023 and 2024, is seeking those applicants to redistribute up to a maximum of $5 million of ZEVIP funding for local EV infrastructure including EV chargers. These organizations will redistribute a maximum of $100,000 per project to local partners for EV chargers in public places, on streets, in multi-unit residential buildings, at workplaces or for on-road vehicle fleets.

The federal budget in 2022 included $1.7 billion to extend ZEVIP until March 2025 and expanded the types of vehicle models eligible under the program to include more vans, trucks and SUVs.

The federal government has approved funding to install over 34,500 ZEV chargers.