U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer Visits Li-Cycle Rochester Hub

Senator Schumer commends Li-Cycle for its contributions toward building a sustainable domestic battery materials supply chain in the United States

Li-Cycle’s Rochester Hub is expected to be a significant new source of battery materials in North America, including battery grade lithium carbonate

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Li-Cycle Corp. (NYSE: LICY) (“Li-Cycle” or the “Company”), an industry leader in lithium-ion battery resource recovery and the leading lithium-ion battery recycler in North America, was pleased to host Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer at the Company’s Rochester Hub within the Eastman Business Park near Rochester, New York.

Senator Schumer’s leadership was instrumental in passing the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which allocates more than $300 billion in funding towards energy security and the fight against climate change, including provisions to support domestic manufacturing of critical materials for electric vehicles (EVs) in the United States. Additionally, Senator Schumer provided key leadership for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which supports continued job growth in the United States.

The recently passed Acts are expected to be a further accelerator to support the increasing demand for EVs and stationary energy storage. Additionally, they are expected to reduce the cost of building new facilities to produce critical materials domestically and help bring down manufacturing costs for batteries.

During the event at the Company’s Rochester Hub facility, Senator Schumer and Li-Cycle’s CEO and co-founder Ajay Kochhar were joined by the local Li-Cycle team to recognize the benefits of the IRA and IIJA, the facility’s expected positive impact on the local communities and the greater North American lithium-ion battery supply chain.

Li-Cycle’s patented, commercial lithium-ion battery recycling technologies play a key role in supporting localized supply chains of critical battery grade materials. The Rochester Hub is expected to be the first commercial hydrometallurgical battery resource recovery facility as well as the first new significant source of battery-grade lithium carbonate production in North America. The facility is expected to process battery material that is equivalent to approximately 225,000 electric vehicles per year, which will position the Company as a leading domestic supplier of critical battery-grade materials.

“We are thrilled to have hosted Senator Schumer at our Rochester Hub facility and thank him for his leadership in sponsoring the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, both monumental developments for a clean energy future and job growth across the United States,” said Ajay Kochhar, co-founder and CEO of Li-Cycle. “We expect that this legislation will accelerate the growth of the EV and stationary energy storage industry and we believe Senator Schumer’s visit further validates the importance of our Rochester Hub facility and the positive impact it will have for the supply of domestic critical materials.”

“Li-Cycle has a first mover advantage and is well positioned to continue to scale to support the ability of domestic battery manufacturers and automakers in the U.S. to meet their production goals and domestic material sourcing requirements,” added Mr. Kochhar. “The Company’s environmentally sustainable and patented technologies are proven in the North American market as a leading way to recycle lithium-ion batteries. With these legislative programs, Li-Cycle has both the opportunity to explore government funding opportunities to potentially benefit our growth and the capability to assist automakers in achieving the Clean Vehicle Tax Credit conditions by meeting their domestic production content requirement through critical battery materials sourced from our Spoke & Hub recycling network.”

Li-Cycle’s current project pipeline of Spoke & Hub facilities expects to have a total of 65,000 tonnes of lithium-ion battery Spoke processing capacity between North America and Europe, with the Rochester Hub capable of processing 35,000 tonnes of black mass annually (equivalent to approximately 90,000 tonnes of lithium-ion battery input annually). Li-Cycle’s Spoke facilities process end-of life batteries and battery manufacturing scrap through a proprietary submerged shredding process which produces minimal wastewater and direct emissions. The primary output product of Li-Cycle’s Spokes is black mass, containing of a number of highly valuable critical metals, including lithium, cobalt and nickel. Li-Cycle will convert black mass into battery-grade materials at the Rochester Hub in an environmentally sustainable manner using its proprietary technologies.

The Rochester Hub is expected to create approximately 220 new permanent jobs and more than 1,000 jobs during construction. Li-Cycle has an existing Spoke facility in Rochester that supports more than 35 jobs. Li-Cycle expects to begin commissioning the Rochester Hub in stages in calendar 2023.

About Li-Cycle Holdings Corp.

Li-Cycle (NYSE: LICY) is on a mission to leverage its innovative Spoke & Hub Technologies™ to provide a customer-centric, end-of-life solution for lithium-ion batteries, while creating a secondary supply of critical battery materials. Lithium-ion rechargeable batteries are increasingly powering our world in automotive, energy storage, consumer electronics, and other industrial and household applications. The world needs improved technology and supply chain innovations to better manage battery manufacturing waste and end-of-life batteries and to meet the rapidly growing demand for critical and scarce battery-grade raw materials through a closed-loop solution. For more information, visit https://li-cycle.com/.

Forward Looking Information Disclaimer

Certain statements contained in this press release may be considered “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, Section 21 of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements may generally be identified by the use of words such as “believe”, “may”, “will”, “continue”, “anticipate”, “intend”, “expect”, “should”, “would”, “could”, “plan”, “potential”, “future”, “target” or other similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters, although not all forward-looking statements contain such identifying words. Forward-looking statements in this press release include but are not limited to statements about the expected positive impact of the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act; the timing of the start of commissioning in stages of the Rochester Hub; the expected positive impact of the Rochester Hub including in relation to local employment; and the timing and achievement of the roll-out of the Li-Cycle’s global Spoke & Hub network. These statements are based on various assumptions, whether or not identified in this press release, which Li-Cycle believe are reasonable in the circumstances. There can be no assurance that such estimates or assumptions will prove to be correct and, as a result, actual results or events may differ materially from expectations expressed in or implied by the forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the control of Li-Cycle, and which may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking information. Li-Cycle believes that these risks and uncertainties are related (but not limited) to the following: Li-Cycle’s ability to economically and efficiently source, recover and recycle lithium-ion batteries and lithium-ion battery manufacturing scrap, as well as third party black mass; Li-Cycle’s risks related to Li-Cycle’s international expansion, on a timely basis or at all; Li-Cycle’s ability to develop its current and future capital projects in a timely manner and their success once completed; Li-Cycle’s engagement in strategic transactions that could disrupt its business, cause dilution to its shareholders, reduce its financial resources, result in the incurrence of debt, or prove not to be successful; disruptions to operations; ability to access additional funds on commercially reasonable terms or at all when it needs them; a decline in the adoption rate of electric vehicles, or a decline in the support by governments for “green” energy technologies; decreases in benchmark prices for the materials contained in Li-Cycle’s products; the development of an alternative chemical make-up for lithium-ion batteries or battery alternatives; Li-Cycle’s reliance on a limited number of customers and Li-Cycle’s projected revenues for its Rochester Hub being derived from a single customer; increases in income tax rates, changes in income tax laws or disagreements with tax authorities; fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates which could result in declines in reported sales and net earnings; unfavourable economic conditions, such as consequences of the global COVID-19 pandemic; natural disasters, epidemic or pandemic outbreaks, cybersecurity incidents, boycotts and geo-political events; Li-Cycle’s ability to protect or enforce its intellectual property rights or intellectual property rights claims by third parties; and Li-Cycle’s failure to effectively remediate the material weakness in its internal control over financial reporting that it has identified or its failure to develop and maintain a proper and effective internal control over financial reporting.

These and other risks and uncertainties related to Li-Cycle’s business and the assumptions on which the forward-looking information is based are described in greater detail in the sections entitled "Risk Factors" and “Key Factors Affecting Li-Cycle’s Performance” in its Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Ontario Securities Commission in Canada on January 31, 2022.

Li-Cycle assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable laws. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Li-Cycle’s assessments as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.

Investor Relations
Nahla A. Azmy
Sheldon D’souza
investors@li-cycle.com

Media
Louie Diaz
media@li-cycle.com