Ford’s electric vehicles batteries will be recycled with ex-Telsa execs startup. Redwood materials a startup that is run by Telsa’s former chief technology officer JB Straubel will as of now be handling the recycling of Ford’s electric vehicles.
Ford’s Electric Vehicles Batteries Will Be Recycled With ex-Telsa Execs Startup
Besides the recycling deal between these two companies, the newly founded partnership will also help to build the companies battery supply chain in the US. And this is something that the bidden administration has its attention on.
Ford also is investing $50 million as part of the deal and this is something Straubel said is an integral part of the company’s announced $700 million funding round. This startup also recycles batteries from other companies such as Nissan, specialized, and scrap from Telsa and Panasonic at the original Gigafactory in Reno, Nevada. In other words, ford is not the first customer the redwood material startup has lined up with.
Fords Investment in Redwood Materials
Redwood materials seem more than just a recycling partner with ford as a partner these days. This very startup is partnering up with the automaking company to make out plans for almost everything ranging from helping to process scrap materials, to finding new life for worn-out batteries with ample capacity remaining. They are also helping out ford to produce new batteries from salvaged lithium, cobalt, nickel, and copper.
Both companies did not reveal much about the deal. But the overall goal is one that the founder of redwood materials has always stressed since founding the company. And the idea is to create a closed-loop or circular system where materials that make up lithium-ion batteries are reused and recycled. This move however could drive down the general cost of electric vehicles battery and also in the process reducing the reliance of automakers on imported materials and mining.
Ford recently is now very keen on electric vehicles just like many of its competitors. The company recently this year released the mustang Mach-E and also has an all-electric version of its F-150 expected in 2022. These two are just the first flagships of an impending fleet of electric vehicles expected from ford in the coming decade. The automaking company is also planning to make batteries with South Korea’s SK innovation in the US.
However ford is not alone in this push as general motors which are also very interested in electric vehicles recently entered a deal with Canadian company Li-Cycle to help with the recycling of its scrap wastes from batteries it is going to make with LG Chem, SK innovations rival.
