Redwood Materials, founded by JB Straubel, former Tesla CTO and one of Tesla’s five cofounders, has been running a pilot program for EV battery recycling in California for the past year. The program has seen success, with Redwood partnering with automakers such as Audi and the rest of VW Group, and even securing a $2b loan last month to help it scale.
Redwood’s headquarters is in Nevada, near Tesla’s Gigafactory, and the company is planning to expand to South Carolina as well. California, the largest and most mature electric vehicle market in America, provides easy access to a large number of aging hybrid and electric car battery packs for recycling. These packs include a mix of NiMH and Li-Ion packs, the former being used primarily in older hybrids and the latter in newer EV and hybrid packs. Redwood has accepted 1,268 battery packs from 19 separate BEV and Hybrid models, which presents challenges to recyclers as every pack is designed differently and cell formats differ as well.
Redwood has achieved an impressive 95% efficiency in recovering important metals from these half a million pounds of battery packs. This is incredibly high efficiency – especially compared to the 0% recycling efficiency of gasoline, the energy storage device for competing vehicles. Redwood has also struck a deal with Panasonic to sell the results of this recycling in the form of high-nickel cathode materials.
In addition to EV battery packs, Redwood also accepts batteries from old phones, laptops, and other devices through 11 dropboxes in seven states, or you can ship your batteries directly to the company. Battery recycling is expected to become increasingly important in coming years, as EV battery packs start reaching end-of-life. With the EV market rapidly growing (16x as many EVs were sold in the US in 2022 as in 2012), recycling of old batteries will necessarily make up a small minority of EV battery material supply for years to come, but it will still be an important percentage especially with new government incentives.
The Inflation Reduction Act tied the EV tax credit to battery sourcing requirements which stipulate that “critical minerals” must be extracted, processed, or recycled in the US or in a country the US has a free trade agreement with. This means that recycling companies are well-positioned to provide these minerals to automakers. Redwood’s strategy is to partner directly to these automakers to keep costs down, increasing safety and efficiency and helping to keep cost down, improving competitiveness of US-recycled materials when compared to freshly-mined ones.
To find out more about Redwood’s Consumer Recycling Program and how and where you can recycle your batteries, check out its website here. With Redwood’s success in its pilot program, it looks like battery recycling is here to stay.
FAQ
Q1. When will electric cars be available in the UK?
A1. Electric cars are already available in the UK.
Q2. Where can I find electric car charging stations near me?
A2. You can use online resources such as Zap-Map to find electric car charging stations near you.
Q3. Which electric car is the best?
A3. The best electric car depends on your individual needs and preferences.
