Redwood starts EV battery collection program

Carson City, Nevada-based Redwood Materials says it is launching an electric vehicle (EV) battery recycling program, beginning in California, designed to establish what it calls “efficient, safe and effective recovery pathways for end-of-life hybrid and EV battery packs.”

Ford Motor Co. and Volvo Cars are the first automakers to directly support the program, Redwood says, but it will accept all lithium-ion (Li-ion) and nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries discarded in the Golden State “and welcome other automakers to join us in this effort.”

Ford President and CEO Jim Farley says, “We are excited to be strengthening our partnership with Redwood Materials in identifying solutions for EV batteries that have reached the end of their useful lives. I want to thank JB Straubel and the Redwood team for bringing their world-class technology and know-how to our joint effort.”    

Redwood says in a news release: “To truly make EVs sustainable and affordable, we need to create pathways for end-of-life battery packs to be collected, recycled and remanufactured into new battery materials. Scaling production of EVs, increasingly from recycled materials, domestically, is the only way we can create a circular and, therefore, sustainable and secure supply chain to meet the United States’ electrification plans. While the first major wave of end-of-life electric vehicles is still a few years away, Redwood and our initial partners at Ford and Volvo are committed to creating these pathways now.”  

According to Redwood, 6 GWh (gigawatt hours) of Li-ion batteries or the equivalent of 60,000 EVs, come through Redwood’s doors, which it calls “most of the recycled [EV] Li-ion batteries in North America today.”

The company says it has been ramping up its treatment processes in preparation for a number of EVs to come off roads “and we’re ready to support the battery market in identifying and creating pathways to collect battery packs.” 

Redwood refers to California as “the oldest and one of the largest EV markets on Earth,” adding, “When the first major wave of EVs begins to retire from roads, it will happen in California.” 

Regarding the cooperation of vehicle makers, Redwood says, “When we first announced our partnership with Ford last year, we shared that our initial workstream was to collaborate to determine how we can create pathways together for Ford and Lincoln electrified vehicles to come off the road at the end of their lives and be recycled and manufactured into battery materials to make more, locally manufactured electric vehicles. Volvo, while a new relationship, is similarly focused on ensuring responsible and secure pathways for end-of-life batteries.”  

In California, Redwood says, it will work directly with dealers and dismantlers to identify and recover end-of-life packs. Redwood will then package, transport and recycle the batteries at its facilities in Nevada “and then return high-quality, recycled materials back into domestic cell production.”

Over time, Redwood says it expects end-of-life EV batteries to become “valuable assets that will help make EVs more sustainable and affordable.”