Ford, Volvo join Redwood in EV battery recycling push in California

LG

17/02/2022 16:00

By Paul Lienert
    Feb 17 (Reuters) - Ford Motor  F.N  and Geely Automobile’s
 0175.HK  Volvo Cars will join battery recycling startup Redwood
Materials in developing processes, starting in California, to
collect end-of-life batteries from electric and hybrid vehicles
and recover the materials for use in new batteries, the
companies said Thursday.
    Redwood Materials, co-founded by former Tesla  TSLA.O 
executive JB Straubel, formed an earlier partnership last fall
with Ford to develop a “closed loop” or circular supply chain
for electric vehicle (EV) batteries, from raw materials to
recycling.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2QN1JV
    On Thursday, Redwood Materials said it would work directly
with dealers and dismantlers in California to identify and
recover end-of-life battery packs. The materials in those packs
will be recovered and recycled at Redwood Materials facilities
in northern Nevada.
    U.S. automakers Ford and General Motors Co (GM)  GM.N  have
said the battery recycling effort is crucial in efforts to
develop a domestic supply chain to meet increasing EV demand.
    GM and battery partner LG Energy Solution  051910.KS  last
year announced a partnership with startup Li-Cycle  LICY.N  to
recycle battery scrap material from Ultium Cells, the GM-LG
joint venture that is building battery plants in Ohio, Tennessee
and Michigan.
    Redwood Materials has similar partnerships with battery
makers Panasonic  6752.T  in Nevada and Envision AESC in
Tennessee, as well as with Amazon  AMZN.O . Ford and Amazon are
among the investors in Redwood Materials.

 (Reporting by Paul Lienert in Detroit
Editing by Mark Potter)
 ((Paul.Lienert@thomsonreuters.com; mobile +1 313-670-2452;))