Photo: Redwood Materials
Battery recycling company Redwood Materials was founded by Tesla Co-Founder J.B. Straubel, is making moves, and at least one major automaker is set to partner with the company in the years to come.
Redwood Materials has announced plans to work with Volkswagen to recycle all end-of-life batteries from VW and Audi, according to a press release shared on Tuesday.
The recycling company is set to coordinate with over 1,000 Volkswagen dealerships to recover electric vehicle (EV) batteries to have them recycled at Redwood Materials’ Northern Nevada recycling facilities.
According to Redwood, the Nevada factory will be able to recover over 95 percent of the metals in EV batteries, including nickel, cobalt, lithium and copper.
Biden EV Strategy to Push for Battery Recycling in the U.S. https://t.co/34EwM8e57f
— TeslaNorth.com (@RealTeslaNorth) June 4, 2021
The company also says that, instead of shipping the batteries overseas to be processed, it will use them to manufacture new anode and cathode components to be supplied back to U.S. battery cell makers.
Redwood Materials currently sees roughly 6 GWh of lithium-ion batteries come through its doors each year, which is enough to build over 60,000 EVs.
Tesla signed a battery recycling deal with Redwood Materials last February, to recycle batteries generated at the automaker’s Nevada Gigafactory from Panasonic.
