Toyota joins Tesla co-founder's EV battery recycling firm Redwood for repurposing initiative
Redwood Materials and Toyota to collect and repurpose cells
• Redwood Materials and Toyota to collect and repurpose cells
• Battery recycling company to build facility near Toyota plant
Japanese carmaker Toyota Motor Corp has partnered with US battery recycling startup Redwood Materials Inc to collect and repurpose cells from some of the earliest battery-powered vehicles.
Redwood, which was created by Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) co-founder J B Straubel, on Tuesday said, collaborating with Toyota Motor North America, the company is planning to create a “closed-loop” supply chain for EV batteries by collecting end-of-life cells and repurposing the materials.
The companies will initially try testing and recycling batteries from Toyota’s early-generation Prius models, the world’s first mass-produced hybrid vehicle, when it debuted in the US around the turn of the century.
Battery-powered vehicles retiring from roads today are “predominantly” Priuses, Redwood said.
The companies are planning to address soaring battery prices and shortages of metals and materials like lithium and cobalt that are estimated to accompany a rapid global shift to EVs.
Redwood, the biggest lithium-ion battery recycling company in the US, aims to reduce battery costs by mass supplying materials derived from recycled cells and expects to produce enough anode and cathode components for more than 1 million EVs a year by 2025.
The companies’ operations will initially take place at a Redwood facility in Nevada. Redwood said it is planning to build another so-called battery materials campus near Toyota’s first US battery plant in North Carolina.
Picture Credit: BBC
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