VW plants seed for Redwood EV recycling

Redwood Materials Inc. has partnered with yet another auto giant, Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., to create a new circular supply chain for recycled Volkswagen and Audi electric vehicle batteries in the United States.

After announcing a partnership with Toyota Motor North America in late June, it was not long before Volkswagen – which has already been taking steps to prepare for its end-of-life EV batteries for some time now – sought the California battery recycler to localize all the company's major competencies to better grow a North American closed-loop supply chain for lithium-ion batteries.

"For Volkswagen, going all-in on electrification means driving sustainable solutions at every turn," said Volkswagen Group of America President and CEO Scott Keogh. "Redwood Materials is a great partner to help us accelerate EV adoption in America. This collaboration allows us to move closer toward our goal of closing the loop for a circular EV economy, giving American consumers yet another reason to go electric."

The new EV battery recycling collaboration will be facilitated by Volkswagen's nationwide network of approximately 1,000 dealers, starting with the Volkswagen and Audi brands. A key component to the collab is a holistic approach to the battery lifecycle.

By allowing for more sustainable utilization of battery components from the moment vehicles leave the assembly line through the end of their lifecycle, the partnership hopes to support local battery capacity and expertise as VW continues its transition to an electric portfolio.

"The electric transformation means making commitments in many areas throughout our business," said Daniel Weissland, president of Audi of America. "In addition to our robust line up of fully electric Audi e-tron models available now, having like-minded partners like Redwood Materials in place to further reduce environmental impact throughout the lifecycle of every electric vehicle is critical."

A shared vision

To date, Redwood already recycles more than 6 gigawatt-hours of lithium-ion batteries, or roughly the equivalent of 60,000 EV batteries, in Nevada.

The batteries that come to Redwood are composed of end-of-life consumer devices, battery production scrap, and EV batteries, which represent a large majority of lithium-ion battery recycling in North America.

Redwood then extracts raw materials such as cobalt, copper, nickel, and lithium, to then refine and remanufacture them back into critical battery components, anode copper foil and cathode materials, before delivering the finished products back to domestic battery cell manufacturers.

"The transition to electric transportation and clean energy is coming and the batteries powering these technologies present and incredible opportunity," said JB Straubel, founder and CEO of Redwood Materials. "As more and more batteries reach end-of-life each year, an increasing and infinitely recyclable resource becomes available."

The collaboration between Volkswagen and Redwood reflects a shared vision for a circular EV economy that, if adopted across the industry, could help reduce battery costs and the need to mine and ship raw materials.

"Redwood and Volkswagen Group of America share a vision to create a domestic, circular supply chain for batteries that will help improve the environmental footprint of lithium-ion batteries, decrease cost and, in turn, increase access and adoption of electric vehicles," said Straubel.

Volkswagen hopes to achieve 55% of its U.S. sales to become fully electric by 2030. To achieve this goal, the company seeks to transform the North American region into an industrial EV powerhouse, featuring localized EV engineering and research and development capabilities, EV assembly and component production for its brands, and plans for dedicated battery cell production.