Redwood Materials, started by Tesla co-founder JB Straubel, are launching the most comprehensive electric vehicle battery recycling program, beginning in California, to establish efficient, safe and effective recovery pathways for end-of-life hybrid and electric vehicle (EV) battery packs.
Ford Motor Company and Volvo Cars are the first automakers to directly support the program but the company will accept all lithium-ion (Li-ion) and nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries in the state and welcome other automakers to join us in this effort.
To truly make electric vehicles sustainable and affordable, there is a need to create pathways for end-of-life battery packs to be collected, recycled and remanufactured into new battery materials.
Scaling production of electric vehicles, increasingly from recycled materials, is the only way to create a circular and, therefore, sustainable and secure supply chain to meet the US’ electrification plans.
While the first major wave of end-of-life electric vehicles is still a few years away, Redwood and its initial partners at Ford and Volvo are committed to creating these pathways.
Annually, 6GWh of lithium-ion batteries or the equivalent of 60,000 electric vehicles go through Redwood’s doors, most of the recycled lithium-ion batteries in North America today.
Redwood have been ramping its processes in preparation for the first wave of these vehicles to come off roads and are ready to support the battery market in identifying and creating pathways to collect battery packs.
California has always been a leader in the transition to electric transportation and, as a result, is the oldest and one of the largest electric vehicle markets on the planet. When the first major wave of electric vehicles begins to retire from roads, it will happen in California.
Along with Ford, Lincoln and Volvo, Redwood will work directly with dealers and dismantlers in California to identify and recover end-of-life packs. Redwood will then safely package, transport, and recycle these batteries at its facilities in Northern Nevada,
Redwood will then return high quality, recycled materials back into domestic cell production. Over time, as EOL packs scale, Redwood expect these batteries to become valuable assets that will help make electric vehicles more sustainable and affordable.
Redwood aims is to create the most effective and sustainable closed-loop system that physics, and chemistry will allow for end-of-life battery packs to re-enter the domestic supply chain.
