Li-Cycle secures state tax credits for New York hub

The Canadian company will receive up to $13.5 million in state support through Empire State Development’s Excelsior Jobs Tax Credit Program, as long as it meets its job creation commitments. | Courtesy of Li-Cycle

Battery recycler Li-Cycle has secured $13.5 million in state tax credits for its Rochester, N.Y. black mass processing facility, currently under construction.

The facility, which will serve as a regional hub, sits on 41 acres in the same business park as Li-Cycle’s already operational Rochester “spoke” facility. It will be commissioned in stages starting in 2023, according to a press release.

The Canadian company will receive up to $13.5 million in state support through Empire State Development’s Excelsior Jobs Tax Credit Program, as long as it meets its job creation commitments. Monroe County and Greater Rochester Enterprise are also assisting with the project, the press release noted.

Ajay Kochhar, Li-Cycle co-founder and CEO, said in a statement that the state support puts the company “in excellent position to continue to scale and provide critical battery materials for automakers and manufacturers.”

The spoke facility shreds and prepares lithium-ion batteries to be sent to the hub facility, which processes the resulting black mass. The Rochester spoke can shred up to 5,000 tons of material each year, the press release stated. Li-Cycle has several other operational U.S. spokes in Alabama and Arizona.

The Rochester hub was first announced in 2020 and will be the company’s first processing hub. In the press release, Greece Town Supervisor Bill Reilich said his town, which is near Rochester, has been working with Li-Cycle since 2019 on the project and “only Li-Cycle themselves have worked harder to bring this project home.”