Toyota on Tuesday introduced plans to work with Tesla co-founder J.B. Straubel’s Redwood Supplies to reuse and recycle batteries from hybrid vehicles as a method to additional cut back its environmental footprint.
The partnership will initially give attention to the “assortment, testing, and recycling” of Toyota hybrid batteries, the automaker stated in a press launch. The businesses plan to then develop into different areas, together with battery well being screening, information administration, and remanufacturing, Toyota stated.
Toyota and Redwood Supplies battery recycling
“We’re dedicated to growing sustainable options that enable our batteries to supply worth past the preliminary lifecycle in an electrified car,” Christopher Yang, Toyota group vice chairman for enterprise improvement, stated in a press release. “This additionally contributes to our carbon neutrality objectives and our mission to construct a extra sustainable world for all.”
Redwood has primarily centered on battery recycling up to now, making a provide of supplies for brand new batteries. It receives 6 GWh of batteries yearly for recycling, and plans to ramp cathode and anode manufacturing in the USA to 100 GWh yearly by 2025, Toyota famous. Ford introduced an identical partnership with Redwood final fall.
Toyota and Redwood Supplies battery recycling
Toyota’s partnership with Redwood ensures the automaker may have a minimum of some recycling infrastructure in place because it ramps up U.S. battery manufacturing. A deliberate $1.2 billion North Carolina battery plant may have the capability to provide battery packs for 1.2 million automobiles yearly, Toyota claims. The manufacturing unit will present hybrid batteries first, nevertheless it lays the muse for a home EV provide chain.
The bZ4X is Toyota’s first mass-production EV, though it is a low-volume car in comparison with Toyota’s hybrids. Toyota does plan to launch 30 new EVs globally by 2030, with a number of anticipated to make it to the U.S. It is a important change in technique for Toyota, which has lengthy emphasised hybrids and hydrogen fuel-cell automobiles over battery-electric automobiles.