Redwood Supplies, the battery recycling effort began by Tesla alum JB Straubel, sees its mission as essential for ramping up home content material in American EVs—in addition to for serving to automakers meet sustainability targets.
Final month, Redwood detailed a method it’s making that course of occur on the bottom: It began an internet portal for end-of-life EV batteries. By it, U.S. automotive dismantlers—also called salvage yards—can enter particulars concerning what they’ve and get an on the spot provide for his or her battery pack.
Automotive recycling isn’t as centralized as you may assume, however by way of a tangle of connections and partnerships for varied elements, many of the supplies in previous automobiles discover a new use. Within the U.S. there are greater than 9,000 automotive recycling areas, using 140,000 folks. Redwood says vehicles are probably the most recycled merchandise within the U.S., with round 12 million automobiles recycled per 12 months.
Based on the Automotive Recyclers Affiliation, about 86% of auto materials content material is recycled, reused, or used for “power restoration.” From the mixed efforts of recyclers, about 8 million gallons of fuel and diesel, 24 million gallons of motor oil, and 96% of lead-acid batteries are collected for reuse or recycling.
On the similar time, that is when the variety of EVs reaching recyclers is accelerating, and it’s an essential step in establishing the U.S. battery-material ecosystem.
Toyota and Redwood Supplies battery recycling
Sure, an afterlife in your Leaf or Prius battery
In 2024 alone, Redwood expects 250,000 electrified automobiles to succeed in end-of-life. That features a complete lot of hybrids. Toyota, as an illustration, earlier this month confirmed plans to supply recycled materials for Toyota EV batteries from Redwood, with the hope of recovering supplies from earlier retired Prius hybrids.
A number of different automakers have made offers with Redwood. VW and Audi EV batteries shall be retired by way of the agency, and shipped to Nevada for recycling, and a Ford partnership seeks a “closed loop” round EV provide chain with Redwood. The agency will plan an “outsized function in bringing the battery provide chain dwelling,” based on Vitality Secretary Jennifer Granholm, and it’s receiving a $2 billion DOE mortgage for growth.
Nissan prototype 60-kWh battery pack – Nissan Technical Heart, October 2015
Redwood launched a California pilot program in early 2022, and after the primary 12 months of this system it reported 1,268 battery packs collected from 19 completely different EV and hybrid fashions, 82% of which included lithium-ion cells. It claims that it was in a position to recuperate greater than 95% of lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper, and different supplies from the packs.
As a part of that program, Redwood is already working with automotive dismantlers.
Toyota and Redwood Supplies battery recycling
No parallels to the catalytic converter epidemic
Given the big variety of recyclers, and rampant points with catalytic converter theft, are there any such considerations for EVs? Redwood informed GCR that it particularly approves every transaction, with car title and serial numbers verified, and that it has a crew prepared to assist dismantlers with questions or considerations in processing EV battery packs.
An EV battery pack is on no account a catalytic converter both, and it requires time and ability to take away. By its portal, as soon as Redwood accepts the sale, it handles transportation of the pack, which may typically be 1,000 kilos or extra.
“Everybody we labored with within the dismantler neighborhood needs to do the correct factor and so they have been excited to associate instantly with Redwood to make sure accountable recycling,” Redwood reported of its California program, noting that the dismantler neighborhood helped it discover probably the most environment friendly option to deal with, bundle, and ship heavy EV packs.
Now, it’s time to scale up.
