Ford Teams Up with Battery Recycler to Change How EVs Are Manufactured
@andrew_andrew__
| 1 min read
Ford has invested $50 million in Redwood Materials, an EV battery recycling firm primarily based by ex-Tesla chief technology officer JB Straubel. No longer simplest does this partnership give Ford a jam to send aged batteries, but it no doubt locations the motor firm at the forefront of sustainable EV manufacturing, as it hopes to attain a “closed-loop” present chain with Redwood.
Recycling spent lithium-ion batteries is a no doubt noteworthy job, which is why they’ve an inclination to complete up in landfills. If a battery is fortunate sufficient to be recycled (and no longer perfect shipped off to a mysterious “recycling” plant), then it might perhaps perhaps perhaps undergo a melting-and-extraction direction of to lift away raw materials, akin to copper and cobalt (the most pricey materials in L-ion batteries).
However this recycling direction of is inefficient, costly, and extraordinarily vitality-intensive, so utterly a few recycling corporations are racy to fight by the effort. No longer to claim, the lithium-ion recycling direction of might perhaps perhaps also very well be moderately wasteful. Batteries with a reduced means might perhaps perhaps also unprejudiced finish up in recycling even though they’re mute priceless for undemanding projects.
Redwood Materials hopes to entirely alternate the lithium-ion recycling direction of. It desires to attain what’s known as a “closed-loop” present chain where unique batteries are fabricated from recycled materials as a substitute of imported materials. If carried out precisely, Redwood might perhaps perhaps slash back U.S. reliance on international suppliers. It can perhaps perhaps also limit the abusive and environmentally questionable mining practices that we leer at the moment.
Oh, and it might perhaps perhaps perhaps abet U.S. corporations admire Ford lower down on manufacturing charges. Whereas we can private to applaud Ford and Redwood Materials for his or her environmental pursuits, we want to acknowledge that cash continues to be the motivating force for any industry. So, right here’s to hoping that Ford and Redwood have different cash, I assume!
Offer: Ford, Redwood Materials by The Verge