Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (VWGoA) and Redwood Supplies, Inc. (Redwood) will collaborate to create a provide chain to recycle Volkswagen and Audi electrical car batteries in america, with the purpose of offering accessible and extra sustainable electrical mobility for American drivers.
The collaboration advances Volkswagen Group of America’s technique to localize all main competencies for its electrical transformation, in addition to Redwood’s purpose of making the nation’s solely closed-loop provide chain for lithium-ion batteries.
The brand new EV battery recycling collaboration might be facilitated by VWGoA’s nationwide community of roughly 1,000 sellers, beginning with the Volkswagen and Audi manufacturers. Key to the collaboration is a holistic method to the battery lifecycle. By permitting for extra sustainable utilization of battery parts from the second automobiles go away the meeting line via the tip of their lifecycle, the collaboration can help native battery capability and experience as Volkswagen continues its transition to an electrified portfolio.
As Volkswagen Group manufacturers plan to introduce greater than 25 new battery electrical automobiles to American customers via 2030, VWGoA goals to start establishing battery recycling capabilities for present and future automobiles in North America now.
As well as, the brand new EV battery recycling collaboration will combine prototype batteries from Volkswagen’s analysis amenities such because the Battery Engineering Lab (BEL) in Chattanooga. Redwood Supplies will work straight with sellers and Volkswagen amenities to determine end-of-life batteries and supplies, after which safely bundle and transport them to their Nevada amenities.
Annually, Redwood already recycles greater than 6 GWh of lithium-ion batteries, the equal of 60,000 EV batteries, in Nevada. The batteries that come to Redwood are composed of end-of-life client units, battery manufacturing scrap, and electrical car batteries, and symbolize the big majority of lithium-ion batteries recycled in North America in the present day.
Redwood then extracts uncooked supplies equivalent to cobalt, copper, nickel, and lithium, refines and remanufactures them into important battery parts, anode copper foil and cathode, earlier than delivering these merchandise again to home battery cell producers.
The transition to electrical transportation and clear power is coming and the batteries powering these applied sciences current an unbelievable alternative. As increasingly batteries attain end-of-life annually, an growing and infinitely recyclable useful resource turns into obtainable. Redwood and Volkswagen Group of America share a imaginative and prescient to create a home, round provide chain for batteries that may assist enhance the environmental footprint of lithium-ion batteries, lower value and, in flip, improve entry and adoption of electrical automobiles.
—JB Straubel, Redwood Supplies Founder and CEO
The collaboration of Volkswagen Group of America and Redwood Supplies displays a shared imaginative and prescient for a round EV financial system that, if adopted throughout the business, might assist cut back battery prices and the necessity to mine and ship uncooked supplies.
Volkswagen Group of America is aiming for 55% of its US gross sales to be fully-electric by 2030. To attain this purpose the corporate is remodeling the North American area into an industrial EV powerhouse, that includes localized EV engineering and R&D capabilities, EV meeting and element manufacturing for its manufacturers, and plans for a devoted battery cell manufacturing.
