Redwood Materials has already built a massive, billion-dollar business as the go-to source for battery recycling, refurbishment, and reuse through deals with Panasonic, Volvo, Ford, and Proterra. Now it's adding Toyota to its list of partners.
The company's new deal with Toyota means that batteries from one of the oldest fleets of hybrids and electric vehicles can now be disposed properly or recycled.
"Our goal is to create a fully closed loop to drive down the environmental and economic costs of electric vehicles," the company said in a statement.
Toyota's first hybrid vehicles hit the roads more than 20 years ago and those cars are now reaching the end of their lives and are ready for recycling, the companies said in a joint statement.
"Initially, we will focus on testing and recycling Toyota batteries, creating end-of-life pathways for the original hybrid electric vehicles. We will then expand into other areas including battery health screening and data management, remanufacturing, and battery material supply throughout North America," according to a statement from Redwood Materials.
This work will be conducted at Redwood's Northern Nevada Battery Materials Campus located across the way from California, where the earliest fleet of Priuses first rolled out.
Additional sites will be located near Toyota's recently announced North American battery plant in North Carolina.
Founded by J.B. Straubel, one of the men responsible for the launch of Tesla alongside Elon Musk, Redwood is already processing approximately 6 gigawatt hours of end-of-life batteries for recycling and remanufacturing into battery materials.
The company intends to produce 100GWh of battery materials and components that could provide energy storage and propulsion for more than 1 million vehicles by 2025 and materials for 5 million by 2030, the company said.