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Ford and Redwood Materials have established a collaboration for electric car batteries recycling. Ford Motor Co. is investing $50 million in an upstart electric vehicle battery recycling as the automaker moves to bolster its U.S. battery supply chain.
Redwood Materials
Redwood Materials, a Nevada-based firm founded by former Tesla executive CEO JB Straubel, will get investment from the Dearborn, Michigan-based carmaker.
the company’s former chief technical officer. The cash will be used to expand Redwood’s production facility, which also recycles batteries for e-bike manufacturer Specialized.
The automaker claim that by moving the battery supply chain near to home, the arrangement would make electric vehicles more sustainable and cheap. They intend to boost battery production in the United States, as part of the Biden administration’s efforts to minimize reliance on imports from nations like China.
EV Battery Recycling Goals
Ford Motor will be less reliant on imports and raw material mining as a result of recycling batteries in a closed-loop, which will help decrease costs, protect the environment, improve the availability of resources and cut dependency on imported metals. Redwood claims that their recycling method can recover 95% of components including metals such as nickel, cobalt, lithium, and copper on average. The components are recycled to produce anode copper foil and cathode active materials for new batteries by the firm, As the globe shifts to electric cars, all of those metals may be in short supply.
The company says in a statement the funding is part of a commitment to invest more than $30 billion in electrification by 2025. The firm recently announced that it will invest an additional $250 million to increase manufacturing of the popular F-150 Lightning EV.
Ford said in May that by the middle of this decade, BlueOvalSK facilities in North America will be producing electric vehicle batteries. Ford wants to create a joint venture with SK Innovation called BlueOvalSK, which is still awaiting clearance.
Future Plans
Previously, Ford has plans to establish two battery plants in North America with Korean partner SK Innovation beginning in 2025. By 2030, Ford anticipates 40% of its global sales to be entirely electrified.
Both companies plan to work together on methods for collecting and disassembling spent batteries from Ford EVs, as well as to recycle and remanufacturing them.
