The world's biggest automakers are betting that recycled material from old batteries will help supply the metal they need to build electric cars, writes Amrith Ramkumar for the Wall Street Journal. So are startups, including Ascend Elements that hopes to serve an emerging center of battery production in the Southeastern United States. The company says it has an efficient way to turn used lithium-ion batteries into new components, writes Ramkumar. Ascend and other upstarts such as Redwood Materials Inc. and Li-Cycle Holdings Corp. have said they would spend billions of dollars to supply battery makers with the inputs they need. Recycling startups typically break down old batteries or scrap material from manufacturing, then use chemical processes to produce components that can go into new batteries, writes Ramkumar. The recyclers are jockeying for large customers that need more of those materials to meet their electric-vehicle goals.