The same company already took up a contract with Toyota and Ford
VW and Audi dealers will be tasked to remove the used batteries and send then to Redwood in Nevada
The recycling company will supply the automaker with recycled materials to use in new EVs built in the US
After Ford and Toyota, it is now Volkswagen’s turn to partner up with Redwood Materials to ensure its end-of-life electric vehicle batteries are being recycled.
The young company was founded by a former Tesla executive and it has already secured contracts with three major global automakers.
As with the two other companies, this deal with Volkswagen (and Audi) will see Redwood Materials process used batteries in order to extract the materials that can be reused in new battery packs, such as Cobalt and Nickel, which are then supplied back to the respective automaker’s assembly facilities in the US.
Redwood Materials battery recycling | Photo: Toyota
This system will work in a closed loop, meaning that the materials recovered from end-of-life batteries from Volkswagen and Audi vehicles will only be sent back to Volkswagen and Audi for use in new vehicles, without mixing materials from Toyota or Ford.
Since Volkswagen has only recently introduced electric vehicles to its North-American lineup, it will take some time for the first batteries to reach the end of their life. In the meantime, it will supply Redwood Materials with test batteries used at its Tennessee research and development facility that are to be disposed of.
VW says its network of around 1,000 dealers around the country will be responsible for the removal and delivery of the used batteries from the vehicles to the recycling facility in Nevada.
Redwood materials currently processes about 6 GWh of used lithium-ion batteries, mostly from consumer electronics, which is enough to power around 60,000 electric vehicles. This makes it the largest lithium battery recycling operation in the entire United States.
