Volkswagen teams up with Redwood Materials for EV battery recycling

Volkswagen needs 55 p.c of its US gross sales to be completely electrical by 2030, so with that quite a few EVs on the highway, there’s been a issue on what to do with all those EV batteries when an EV reaches the conclusion of its lifecycle. Currently VW has declared a partnership with Redwood Components to recycle batteries for equally the VW and Audi makes in the US.

“For Volkswagen, going all-in on electrification suggests driving sustainable answers at every switch,” reported Scott Keogh, President and CEO, Volkswagen Team of The united states, Inc. “Redwood Resources is a wonderful lover to enable us accelerate EV adoption in The us. This collaboration will allow us to move nearer toward our objective of closing the loop for a round EV overall economy, giving American people yet one more reason to go electric.”

Alternatively of just throwing those utilized batteries in a landfill, VW and Redwood Components will recycle the batteries so they can either be employed for a 2nd use, like energy storage or the resources can be reused for new EV batteries. Redwood is capable to extract uncooked supplies these kinds of as cobalt, copper, nickel, and lithium from the employed batteries, which are then refined and remanufactured into crucial battery elements, anode copper foil and cathode. Redwood has already recycled a lot more than 6 GWh of lithium-ion batteries, which is the equivalent of 60,000 EV batteries, in Nevada.

“The changeover to electric transportation and clean energy is coming and the batteries powering these systems current an unbelievable opportunity. As more and far more batteries reach close-of-lifetime each individual 12 months, an raising and infinitely recyclable useful resource becomes available”, reported JB Straubel, Redwood Components Founder and CEO. “Redwood and Volkswagen Group of America share a eyesight to produce a domestic, circular provide chain for batteries that will help increase the environmental footprint of lithium-ion batteries, reduce price tag and, in turn, maximize accessibility and adoption of electric automobiles.”