Princeton NuEnergy secured another $16 million from investors, including Wistron and Honda, to scale up its lithium-ion battery recycling technology.
The battery recycling startup, founded out of Princeton University, earlier this year received a $12 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to accelerate the commercialization of its technology, which employs a plasma-based recovery process to perform cathode-to-cathode and anode-to-anode recycling without chemical leaching.
The latest round of funding was led by Wistron, along with Honda Motor, GS Futures, Traxys North America, Greenland Technologies, Shell Ventures and WorldQuant Ventures. Princeton NuEnergy opened a pilot lithium-ion battery recycling line at Wistron GreenTech’s site in McKinney, Texas in October 2022.
A press release noted that Princeton NuEnergy plans to use the funds to build a new recycling facility and purchase more equipment to increase its processing capacity.
Chao Yan, Princeton NuEnergy founder and CEO, said in the press release that the funding round “represents a major step towards realizing our vision of a cleaner, greener future through cutting-edge lithium-ion battery recycling technology.”
Manabu Ozawa, managing executive officer of Honda Motor, noted that Honda has “high expectations” for the future of the technology.
“The plasma-based direct recycling technology will enable the sustainability of the EV battery supply chain and, as Honda strives to achieve 100% use of sustainable materials by 2050, we envision that this technology has a great potential,” Ozawa said in the press release. “Honda will continue to search for, collaborate with and invest in various venture companies with a promising future.”
