Redwood Materials to recycle e-bike batteries for Rad
Redwood Materials will recycle e-bike batteries for Rad Power Bikes in North America, thus entering an often-overlooked market for LEV batteries. Founded by former Tesla man JB Straubel, Redwood also works with Panasonic, carmakers, and bike makers Specialized.
The new deal with Rad Power Bikes is notable since the company claims it was among the top sellers of electric bikes in North America, however, specialising in fat-tired e-bikes with big batteries and cargo-carrying capacity.
Customers can bring their depleted batteries to Rad Power Bikes’ retail locations, after which the company will send them to Redwood Materials. The company currently operates ten retail and service locations in North America. Select Rad stores in California and Washington will also serve as drop-off locations for old smartphones, laptops, and tablets, for Redwood’s growing consumer e-waste collection program, so the statement.
As much as it may be needed, the service is “in-store only,” likely due to e-bike batteries still counting as dangerous goods when shipped.
Redwood Materials was founded in 2017 by Jeffrey “JB” Straubel, former chief technology officer of Tesla. In addition to breaking down scrap from Tesla’s battery-making process with Panasonic, Redwood reportedly recycles batteries from Ford, Toyota, Nissan, Specialized, Amazon, Lyft, and others. The company also produces cathode and anode components.
Redwood claims it can recycle and reuse more than 95 per cent of the critical metals found in the batteries it collects, including nickel, cobalt, copper, aluminium, lithium, and graphite.
The news was part of an update released in March of this year when it collected and recycled 1,268 end-of-life lithium-ion and nickel-metal hydride battery packs over twelve months. Already at the time, Redwood said that recycling was not the most significant cost factor. It’s the logistics. The large car batteries were collected in California but processed in northern Nevada. “The key to reducing logistics costs for end-of-life battery packs is to achieve economies of scale through increased collection volume, and Redwood is confident that, in time, as EOL pack volumes increase, the logistics cost will decrease so that batteries will become assets that will help make EVs more sustainable and affordable in the long run.”
Redwood’s recycling process is already profitable for smaller batteries, such as those installed in consumer devices, production scrap, and now, e-bike batteries.
0 Comments