EV DEVELOPMENT
SITUATION
Automakers may care as much about recycling as your new aging family member
Specifically, battery recycling—with EV adoption set to surge in the coming years.
Ford invested $50 million in Redwood Materials, an EV battery recycling.
Battery recycling is key to building a sustainable all-electric future
Supply of necessary metals is finite
Inhumane conditions under which certain minerals, like cobalt, are often mined.
SIGNICANCE:
Nickel could be in short supply if companies rely on new mining alone.
0ther crucial metals in short supply are lithium, cobalt, copper.
Redwood has partnered with Panasonic and Amazon to recycle lithium-ion batteries
Will help Ford recycle its own EV battery materials.
Cobalt and nickel are more at risk of shortages than lithium,
Will face supply issues if EV adoption scales as rapidly as is expected
SOLUTIONS:
To companies create a means & process to recycle used EV batteries.
Redwood – Ford create a “closed loop” supply chain.
Redwood claims it can recover 95% of the elements used in batteries
Has closed a $700 million funding round in July.
Companies are also attacking the opposite end of these issues
Creating novel (e.g., seafloor mining), more efficient, and/or safer forms of mining.
Presently cheaper to make batteries from newly mined materials than recycled ones.
Experts expect the economics to change as lead batteries are phased out,
STATS
98% of lead-acid batteries are currently recovered or recycled
SOURCES:
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/#inbox/FMfcgzGlkFlwKnSjTBbCbmKKVGfcRlrQ