While the lead-acid batteries used in traditional vehicles have long been widely recycled, less than 20 percent of them lithium-ion batteries used in electric and hybrid vehicles are currently recycled due to technical issues related to their chemistries. WPI’s experts on lithium-ion battery recycling, working through the university’s NSF-funded Center for Resource Recycling and Recovery, have developed patented processes for fully recycling lithium-ion batteries and producing new cathode materials better than the original. The processes form the foundation for a company that is building the nation’s largest lithium-ion battery recycling plant.