Ford joins hands with Redwood Materials to recycle EV batteries

Automobile giant Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) and SK Innovations, its battery manufacturing partner, will procure critical raw materials like lithium, nickel, and copper, which are helpful to manufacture electric vehicle (EV) battery packs. Ford has partnered with battery recycling start-up Redwood Materials to reuse the raw materials generated from the EV battery packs.

The start-up will recycle scrap material from Ford at its facilities in Carson City, Nevada. However, over some time, when Ford and SK Innovation increase the plant strength, Redwood Materials will construct new recycling centers closer to the battery manufacturing plants.

The automaker is taking steps to address the problem of EV batteries

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The partnership is a clear indication that the automobile manufacturer is taking conscious steps to address the supply and cost of the various raw materials needed to manufacture the batteries for electric vehicles.

It sound like a nice plan for Ford, but making sure the process is completed will require Ford to keep track of its EVs long after they are sold. Typically vehicles have two or three owners in its lifetime, making it very difficult for Ford to recycle the battery. The answer may lead Ford to track its EV batteries.

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA), on its website informed that the group recycles batteries from its vehicles. The company claimed that none of its batteries go to landfills. Meanwhile, General Motors Company (NYSE: GM) announced that it is working with Canada-based Li-Cycle to recycle scrap material from manufacturing Ultium battery cells.

The sale of EVs expected to cross the one million mark in the U.S. by 2025

According to the research firm LMC Automotive, the sale of EVs is expected to cross the one million mark in the U.S. by 2025. The numbers have prompted automakers to focus on the lifecycle of the batteries that power the EVs. Lisa Drake, Ford’s chief operating officer, said:

“It will help us reduce the reliance on importing a lot of the materials that we use today when we build the batteries, and then it’ll reduce the mining of raw materials, which is going to be incredibly important in the future as we start to scale. Creating this domestic supply chain is really a major step towards making electric vehicles more affordable and more accessible to everyone.”