Innovation happens when the right resources, people, and passion come together to address a challenge. With the Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Prize, teams of creative individuals, entrepreneurs, and businesses will advance conceptual solutions to prototypes and finally to pilot validations to address challenges with the lithium-ion battery recycling supply chain. The goal of this phased prize competition is to develop and demonstrate processes that, when scaled, have the potential to capture 90% of all discarded or spent lithium-ion batteries in the United States for eventual recovery of key materials for re-introduction into the supply chain.
Prize Continuation
Continuation of the Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Prize will leverage funds authorized in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to administer and award a total of $7.4 million in cash prizes and voucher support to prize participants over the next 3 years, approximately. This continuation is designed to bolster participation from new competitors while providing additional support to Phase III winning teams.
Breakthrough Competition
This new public contest aims to incentivize new submissions from battery industry entrepreneurs that demonstrate innovative solutions that work toward or deliver on the goal of the prize, while continuing to support the further development of Phase III winning solutions. This phase consists of two simultaneous competition tracks:
Track 1: New Competitors —Legal business entities based in the United States with single process ideas, partial solutions or full concept solutions that enable or meet the prize goal. Track 1 is open to new participants and previous competitors of the Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Prize. A single business entity may participate as a new competitor, or teams may be comprised of multiple businesses.
Track 2: Verified Competitors — Phase III winners are invited to further develop their concept solutions with the added support of a $100,000 noncash voucher to be spent at a Voucher Service Provider within the American-Made Network. Voucher work must support the continued validation and demonstration of their Phase III pilot-scale solutions.
Breakthrough will award up to $1.2 million total in cash prizes to up to six teams within Track 1: New Competitors and up to $800,000 total in cash prizes and $100,000 in voucher funding to up to four teams within Track 2: Verified Competitors. In total, Breakthrough will award up to $2.4 million in prizes to up to 10 winners. In addition, the 10 Breakthrough winners will be eligible to advance to Phase IV of the competition.
For more information about the Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Prize Breakthrough competition, refer to the official rules.
Evaluation Entities
The Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Prize is seeking qualified lithium-ion battery recyclers and second-life testing organizations to support Phase IV as Evaluation Entities. To become an approved Evaluation Entity, private organizations and facilities must first apply to become a Voucher Service Provider on the American-Made website.
Competition is heating up in these final few months of the Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Prize Breakthrough Contest. We are looking forward to learning more about your innovative solutions to improve the recovery of spent or discarded lithium-ion batteries. Breakthrough Contest final submissions are due Friday, August 30, 2024.
Prize participants are responsible for contacting Evaluation Entities to identify a proposed validation plan for their concept solution. Prize teams should complete the Overview Information and Evaluation Plan sections of the Evaluation Report (Recycler or Second-Life) for their Breakthrough Phase Submission requirements (Section 4. Evaluation Entity). For the Phase IV work, the rest of the Evaluation Entity report should be completed by the Evaluation Entity and submitted as part of the final documentation package. This document is considered business sensitive and will only be shared with the Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Prize review committee.
We will be sharing more information about the approved Evaluation Entity options in the next few weeks. If you have any questions about the Evaluation Entity process, please reach out to .
Thank you to our Evaluation Entities who were able to attend our recent informational webinar. For those who missed the event, the recording is available below.
During this webinar, the prize administration team shared an overview of the roles and responsibilities of Evaluation Entities, including Evaluation Report templates for use in Phase IV. These reports are available under the Resources tab of HeroX.
Although Evaluation Entities do not officially begin work until Phase IV, prize participants are responsible for initiating contact with their selected companies as soon as possible. Prize participants should complete the Overview Information and Evaluation Plan sections of their Evaluation Report as part of their Breakthrough Contest Final Submission requirements (see Section 4. Evaluation Entity of the Official Prize Rules).
An updated list of Evaluation Entities and their designated contacts is available under the Evaluation Entities tab on HeroX. If you have any questions about working with Evaluation Entities, please reach out to .
The Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Prize Administrators have selected Friday, August 30, 2024, as the final submission deadline for the Breakthrough contest. Please refer to the Official Prize Rules to review the final submission requirements for both new and verified competitors, including:
Executive summary
Technical narrative
Identified Evaluation Entity
Outline of team and resources
90-second video
As a reminder, join today’s informational Evaluation Entities webinar to learn more about the role and expectations for Evaluation Entities during the final months of the Breakthrough contest and into Phase IV.
If you have questions about the Breakthrough contest, please reach out to for assistance.
The Evaluation Entity information session has been delayed to Tuesday, June 11 at 1 p.m. ET. As a reminder, this information session aims to educate Evaluation Entities on the expectations for their role during the final months of the Breakthrough contest and into Phase IV. All Evaluation Entities are encouraged to attend. Interested prize participants are also welcome. Sign up now for the Evaluation Entity information session.
To become an approved Evaluation Entity, qualified lithium-ion battery recyclers and second-life testing organizations must follow the steps outlined on our Evaluation Entity page. These steps include:
If you are experiencing issues with either step in this process, please reach out to for assistance. Once approved, new Evaluation Entities will be added to the Evaluation Entity page on a ongoing basis.
During our recent Breakthrough contest information session, we invited all new and former Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling participants to submit a voluntary “Intent to Participate.” Although this is not a prize requirement, this quick form allows our judges to prepare for incoming Breakthrough contest submissions and ensure that we have enough support from Evaluation Entities. Please submit your voluntary Intent to Participate by Friday, May 31.
In addition, prize administrators will be hosting an Evaluation Entity information session on Tuesday, May 28 at 1 p.m. ET specifically to discuss roles and expectations for Evaluation Entities during the Breakthrough contest and into Phase IV. Qualified lithium-ion battery recyclers and second-life testing organizations are encouraged to join this session. Interested prize participants are also welcome to join. Sign up for the Evaluation Entity information session.
