Volkswagen of America and Redwood reach partnership

Volkswagen Group America and Nevada start-up Redwood Materials announced on July 12 that they have entered into a partnership to recyclebatteries from Volkswagen and Audi brandedelectric vehicles in the United States,media reported.

Volkswagen is the latest automaker to strike a deal with Redwood, which already has similar deals with Toyota, Ford and Geely-owned Volvo.

Image source: Volkswagen

Scott Keogh, chief executive of Volkswagen Group America, said in a statement that the recycling partnership with Redwood will "help us accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles in the United States."Volkswagen has previously said it aims to make all-electric vehicles 55 percent of its U.S. sales by 2030.

Redwood also has battery recycling partnerships with battery maker Panasonic, Vision Power, and e-commerce giant Amazon.Ford and Amazon are investors in Redwood.

Redwood, founded by Tesla co-founder JB Straubel, says its mission is to "create a homegrown closed-loop battery supply chain" that ultimately reduces reliance on raw material extraction.

Redwood said it will work with more than 1,000 Volkswagen and Audi dealers in the U.S. to recover and recycle battery packs at Redwood's Nevada facility, including remanufacturing battery electrode components from materials such as cobalt, nickel, lithium and copper.