Redwood Materials
Ford Motor announced that it will cooperate with an electric vehicle battery recycling company called Redwood Materials and invest US$50 million in the company to expand its recycling capacity. Redwood Materials was co-founded by JB Straubel, the former chief technology officer of Tesla. According to the company, its recycling technology can recover 95% of the nickel, cobalt, lithium, copper and other metals in the battery and remake it into the anode for a new battery. Various active metal materials on copper foil and cathode.
The two companies jointly stated that the technology of recycling batteries has many benefits. In addition to reusing old metals and reducing the mining of new metals, it is more environmentally friendly. The recycling of batteries can also reduce the dependence of battery production plants on imported raw materials. And because Redwood Materials’ recycling plant is located in the United States, it is also relatively cheap from the perspective of transportation costs, which can offset the cost of the recycling process to a large extent.
Ford announced in May that it would form a “BlueOvalSK” company in North America with SK Innovation of South Korea to manufacture electric vehicle batteries on its own. If all goes well, it is expected to be put into production around the mid-2020s, providing a foundation for the further electrification of Ford’s car series.