That old laptop, cell phone, and TV remote may have a new purpose: powering the next generation of electric vehicles.
Luxury brand Audi recently partnered with battery recycling startup Redwood Materials to collect rechargeable batteries found in everyday consumer devices: phones, hearing aids, electric toothbrushes and video game controllers. At least 10 Audi dealers in the United States have opted into the growing program so far, with more expected to join in the coming months.
Devices left at dealerships are sent to the Redwood facility in Nevada for sorting, recycling and remanufacturing of cobalt and lithium, two minerals needed for EV battery production.
Audi is the first automaker to partner with Redwood to “support lithium-ion household battery collection in conjunction with larger EV battery recycling efforts,” according to a spokesperson.
Five percent of vehicles sold in the US last year were electric vehicles, a percentage that will rise rapidly as less expensive models hit the market and Americans become more familiar with charging. Growing interest in electric vehicles has accelerated the push for valuable minerals such as cobalt, nickel and lithium to be mined overseas at high environmental and humanitarian costs.
Recycling consumer batteries can reduce the forced mining of precious minerals and create a domestic supply that meets the government’s and automakers’ electric vehicle goals, according to Alexis Georgeson, Redwood’s vice president of government relations and communications.
“The United States is one of the largest consumers of lithium-ion devices,” he told ABC News. “Consumers are eager to get rid of these devices. There’s a huge opportunity for recycling.”
According to Redwood’s data, Americans throw away 150 million phones each year, and less than 5% of lithium-ion devices are recycled. Historically, consumers had to pay to send their used devices to recycling centers, leading to an “abysmal” recycling rate, Georgeson said. (Redwood offers free shipping, but does not reimburse consumers for the cost of the device.)
Redwood says its “technology can recover, on average, more than 95% of materials such as nickel, cobalt, copper, aluminum, lithium and graphite in a lithium-ion battery. These materials can go directly back into the supply chain to make batteries. for new electric vehicles and energy storage products.” The company announced Thursday that it had secured a $2 billion Department of Energy loan to expand its campus and scale domestic production of battery cells in the United States.
Redwood also recycles “end-of-life” battery packs from automakers such as Toyota, Ford, Volvo, Volkswagen and Audi. Lithium, nickel and cobalt are mined and remanufactured into cathode, a core component of an EV battery. Tesla’s battery supplier, Panasonic, has partnered with Redwood for a remanufactured anode sheet, which Redwood makes from scrap taken from Tesla’s Gigafactory in Nevada.
“There is an increased demand from car manufacturers to introduce recycled content into their vehicles,” said Georgeson. “The new tax credit for electric vehicles depends on automakers sourcing their metals domestically, whether they are mined domestically or recycled domestically. The collected devices could end up back in a new Audi”.
The battery is the most expensive part of an electric vehicle, accounting for 30% to 40% of the cost, according to Arun Kumar, managing director of consultancy AlixPartners. The raw materials needed for an electric vehicle can amount to $6,719 compared to $2,423 for internal combustion vehicles.
According to a recent survey by AlixPartners, 97% of battery electric vehicle (BEV) owners are likely to buy another one.
“Once people buy electric vehicles, the loyalty rate is off the charts,” he told ABC News. “There is no chance that these consumers will go back to vehicles with internal combustion engines.”
The U.S. does not want to depend on foreign nations like China to satiate its green ambitions, he argued, adding that it would be “bad” for the U.S. to be stuck in battery and mineral capacity as it takes off sales of electric vehicles. Recycled materials, however, can only meet 20 percent of global demand for cobalt and lithium, Kumar noted.
China owns most of the lithium and nickel, according to AlixPartners data, and also controls mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which account for three-quarters of the world’s mined cobalt supply.
“We have to find mines locally in North America,” Kumar said. “The whole earth has enough materials to support the growth of electric vehicles. Mining of minerals can be safer – we don’t want to degrade the environment.”
Increasing electric vehicle ownership and building the nation’s charging infrastructure have become top priorities for the Biden administration. In August, the president signed the Inflation Reduction Act, which incentivizes automakers to buy batteries and materials from domestic suppliers and US allies. Half of all new vehicles sold in the US by 2030 will be zero-emission cars and trucks, according to Biden’s goal.
Automakers such as Mercedes, Ford, General Motors, Volkswagen and Hyundai are now investing billions of dollars in battery factories in the United States. The industry plans to spend about $1.2 trillion through 2030 to develop and build new battery-powered vehicles, according to the Alliance. for automotive innovation.
Gernot Wagner, a climate economist and professor at Columbia Business School, applauds Redwood for trying to tap into this “huge repository” of old devices and help Americans “Marie Kondo” their homes and apartments to improve the environment.
“There’s a lot of demand for these metals right now. Companies are looking for them anywhere,” he told ABC News. “It’s true that many of us have too many old electrical devices lying around that we no longer use and don’t really know what to do with.”
Whether other companies adopt Redwood’s business model will depend on two factors, Wagner noted.
“If it pays, there will certainly be new entrants. If it doesn’t — or this company is so successful as to corner the entire market — there won’t be others,” he said. “Moving from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles is fundamentally a good thing. We need to make electric vehicles work while minimizing other impacts on the planet. It’s better to recycle than mine from scratch.”
