Toyota, Redword Materials to work on battery recycling

Toyota Motor North The us is the most up-to-date automaker to collaborate with battery recycling corporation Redwood Materials as it is effective to present a a lot more sustainable battery offer chain for its electric auto push.

The shift arrives as Toyota is getting a single of the initially automotive suppliers to accumulate conclusion-of-lifetime batteries. The firm’s Prius, relationship to 1997, was the first mass-current market gasoline-electric powered hybrid motor vehicle, and its batteries are among the first to access recycling age en masse.

Redwood Supplies, established by previous Tesla Main Technologies Officer JB Straubel, aims to break down finish-of-daily life batteries and use their supplies in new kinds. Ford, Volvo and Tesla have currently struck promotions with the enterprise.

“Toyota served pave the way for clean transportation with the introduction of the Toyota Prius additional than 20 several years back. Their commitment not only to offer millions of electrified automobiles this ten years but to assure their circularity into the potential is a important stage for electrification,” Straubel mentioned in a push launch last week.

Making a “round ecosystem” for Toyota’s batteries is the lengthy-time period goal of the collaboration. This would contain Redwood Components breaking down Toyota’s batteries and sending their products back again to the firm’s North American plants to be manufactured into new batteries.

This could alleviate some of the provide chain disruptions the marketplace has been facing, in addition to slicing out environmentally destructive harvesting procedures for “virgin” materials these as lithium, cobalt and other metals.

Alexis Georgeson, vice president of communications and government relations for Redwood Resources, mentioned the recycling of car batteries is crucial for the sustainability of the EV field on the continent.

“Localizing and onshoring this is genuinely vital to be equipped to travel up electrification in this place, and we are viewing much more and additional automakers that are recognizing that,” Georgeson reported. “Equally on recycling as perfectly as on sourcing the battery products far more locally that go into their mobile manufacturing.”

Nonetheless, recycled products will not be going into Toyota’s EV batteries in the close to long term.

Matthew Stich, standard manager overseeing Toyota’s Battery Lifecycle Alternatives group, mentioned this collaboration will contain collecting, tests and recycling Toyota’s hybrid electric powered vehicle batteries.

He did propose the possibility of product remanufacturing, details administration and battery wellness screening in the long term.