Ford Motor Co and startup Redwood Products explained on Wednesday they are partnering to type a “closed loop” or round supply chain for electric powered car or truck batteries, from uncooked components to recycling.
The intention is to lower the price of EVs by reducing the dependence on imported materials, whilst also narrowing the environmental influence from mining and refining of battery materials.
Ford and Redwood will do the job closely with Korean battery maker SK Innovation, which has a joint undertaking with Ford called BlueOvalSK to make EV battery cells in the United States, Ford government Lisa Drake explained at a media briefing.
The problem
Redwood, which was launched in 2017 by previous Tesla Inc govt J.B. Straubel, has been recycling battery scrap and components at facilities in Nevada.
In mid-September, the company reported it would broaden its business to contain refining those elements into battery parts, which includes cathodes and anodes, with the aim of giving more than enough of individuals parts to equip a million electric powered vehicles soon after 2025.
In July, Redwood raised $700 million from investors, including Amazon.com Inc, Fidelity, T. Rowe Cost and Baillie Gifford. On Wednesday, Straubel explained Ford experienced invested $50 million. Redwood now is valued at $3.7 billion by investor web site PitchBook.
Redwood has partnerships with battery makers Panasonic in Nevada and Envision AESC in Tennessee, as very well as Amazon.
The concern of battery existence-cycle management has taken on expanding importance in the programs of equally vehicle and battery producers.
Normal Motors Co President Mark Reuss, at a convention on Tuesday, said recycling and reuse of EV battery components is a critical challenge for the vehicle business as it ramps up creation of electrical vehicles.
“There’s a lot of material in a battery cell that can be reused,” he claimed. “We’re paying out time on that.”
GM and battery husband or wife LG Power Option in May well announced a partnership with startup Li-Cycle to recycle battery scrap substance from Ultium Cells, the GM-LGES joint enterprise that is making battery plants in Ohio and Tennessee.
Straubel explained Redwood aims to start recycling some material from Ford this 12 months, with the goal of providing the 1st anode materials in 2023-2024 and the first cathode content at mid-ten years.