Redwood Supplies, the battery recycling effort began by Tesla alum JB Straubel, believes it’s important to ramp up home content material in American EVs—and for serving to automakers meet sustainability targets.
Final month, Redwood detailed a technique it’s making that course of occur on the bottom: It began a web-based portal for end-of-life EV batteries. By it, U.S. automotive dismantlers—also called salvage yards—can enter particulars relating to what they’ve and get an instantaneous provide for his or her battery pack.
Automotive recycling isn’t as centralized as you may suppose, however via a tangle of connections and partnerships for varied parts, many of the supplies in outdated automobiles discover a new use. Within the U.S. there are greater than 9,000 automotive recycling places, using 140,000 individuals. Redwood says vehicles are probably the most recycled merchandise within the U.S., with round 12 million automobiles recycled per 12 months.
In keeping with the Automotive Recyclers Affiliation, about 86% of car materials content material is recycled, reused, or used for “vitality restoration.” From the mixed efforts of recyclers, about 8 million gallons of gasoline and diesel, 24 million gallons of motor oil, and 96% of lead-acid batteries are collected for reuse or recycling.
On the identical 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
An afterlife to your Nissan Leaf or Toyota Prius battery
In 2024 alone, Redwood expects 250,000 electrified automobiles to achieve the tip of their helpful lives. That features quite a lot of hybrids. Toyota, for example, 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 will probably be retired via the agency and shipped to Nevada for recycling. A Ford partnership seeks a “closed loop” round EV provide chain with Redwood. The agency will plan an “outsized position in bringing the battery provide chain residence,” in keeping with Vitality Secretary Jennifer Granholm, and it’s receiving a $2 billion DOE mortgage for enlargement.
![Nissan prototype 60-kWh battery pack - Nissan Technical Center, October 2015 Nissan prototype 60-kWh battery pack - Nissan Technical Center, October 2015](https://images.hgmsites.net/lrg/nissan-prototype-60-kwh-battery-pack--nissan-technical-center-october-2015_100532729_l.jpg)
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 totally different EV and hybrid fashions, 82% of which included lithium-ion cells. It claims that it was in a position to get well 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 Materials battery recycling Toyota and Redwood Materials battery recycling](https://images.hgmsites.net/lrg/toyota-and-redwood-materials-battery-recycling_100845403_l.jpg)
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 Inexperienced Automobile Reviews that it approves every transaction, with automobile title and serial numbers verified, and that it has a group prepared to assist dismantlers with questions or considerations in processing EV battery packs.
An EV battery pack is under no circumstances a catalytic converter both, and it requires time and talent to take away. By its portal, as soon as Redwood accepts the sale, it handles transportation of the pack, which might typically be 1,000 kilos or extra.
“Everybody we labored with within the dismantler neighborhood desires to do the suitable factor they usually have been excited to accomplice straight 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 technique to deal with, package deal, and ship heavy EV packs.
Now, it’s time to scale up.