Ford Partners With Tesla Co-founder's EV Battery Recycling Venture Program In California

Ford Motor Co F and China’s Geely Automobile-owned Volvo Cars VLVLY have partnered with Tesla Inc TSLA co-founder JB Straubel’s Redwood Materials for an electric vehicle battery recycling venture program in California.

What Happened: Redwood Materials said Ford and Volvo are supporting its most comprehensive program in California that will focus on recycling end-of-life hybrid and electric vehicle battery packs.

The startup said it will accept all lithium-ion and nickel metal hydride batteries in California and work directly with dealers and dismantlers in the state to identify and recover end-of-life battery packs. 

The materials in those packs would be recovered and recycled at Redwood Materials facilities in northern Nevada.

“Over time, as EOL packs scale, we expect these batteries to become valuable assets that will help make EVs more sustainable and affordable,” Redwood said. 

Redwood is backed by Ford and e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc AMZN while Tesla is an early customer for the startup.

The startup had last year formed a partnership with Ford to develop a circular supply chain for electric vehicle batteries, from raw materials to recycling.

See Also: Tesla Co-Founder Says Battery Recycling Venture Not Profitable Yet — But Here's Why He's Not Worried

Why It Matters: Straubel left Tesla in 2019 to focus on Redwood, a startup that is building the world’s first end-to-end supply chain for electric vehicles and clean energy products. 

Redwood focuses on recovering and recycling elements such as cobalt, lithium, nickel and copper that are considered key in battery making. The demand for metals such as lithium, graphite, nickel and manganese is on the rise due to the increasing shift to electric vehicles.

The Nevada-based startup is currently building a materials facility that would "produce 100 GWh of cathode to produce 1 million electric vehicles and 500 GWh for 5 million vehicles in 2030." A location for the site is expected to be revealed soon.

Price Action: Tesla shares closed 5.09% lower at $876.35 a share on Thursday.