BATTERY RECYCLING UPDATE

Redwood has shared a year’s worth of findings in hopes of demonstrating the value of end-of-life packs, identifying gaps where the industry may need support, and aiding policymakers as they begin to make critical decisions on how to responsibly manage EV batteries at end of life.

Working directly with auto dealers, dismantlers, and aggregators in California, Redwood was able to identify and recover 1,268 end-of-life packs totaling approximately half a million pounds of material. Of the packs collected, less than 5 percent were damaged, defective, or recalled.

From the recovered metals, Redwood has already begun to produce high-quality battery materials, anode, and cathode that can be returned directly to U.S. battery cell manufacturers.

The packs collected were a mix of older NiMH and newer lithium-ion chemistries from more than a dozen different automakers. Redwood expects mixed chemistries to continue as older hybrid vehicle models now reaching end of life continue to retire in greater numbers from California roads.

However, lithium-ion represented the majority of the chemistry types collected, and Redwood expects it will continue to grow as it’s now the only type of vehicle battery on the market.

ter, New York, in what Li-Cycle is calling the Rochester Hub. Li-Cycle says that this is the first conditional commitment from the DOE ATVM program for a sustainable pure-play battery materials recycling company and the program’s main support for the lithium-ion battery recycling industry.

Li-Cycle has received a conditional commitment for a $375 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) through its Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program.

The conditional commitment marks another milestone endorsing Li-Cycle’s development of a commercial hydrometallurgical resource recovery facility in North America, located near Roches-

The Rochester Hub is expected to become a U.S. domestic source of battery-grade materials, including lithium, nickel, and cobalt. Receiving the conditional commitment is a significant step in the lending process and reflects the DOE’s intent to finance the project. However, the loan remains subject to the documentation of long-form agreements and certain conditions will have to be satisfied prior to closing, which is currently expected to occur in the second quarter of 2023.

Ascend Elements will collaborate with Honda Motor Company to supply recycled lithium-ion battery materials for Honda electric vehicles in North America. The use of recycled battery materials in new EV batteries can dramatically reduce the carbon footprint of electric vehicles.