Update 2:08 PM ET: Updated quote from Redwood Materials spokesperson confirmed the partnership with Lyft in paragraph six.
Redwood Materials will reportedly recycle Lyft scooter and e-bike batteries through a partnership first uncovered by The Verge.
Redwood Materials, founded by Tesla co-founder J.B. Straubel, has gained several partnerships with automakers and battery companies in an attempt to recover and reuse electric vehicle battery components. Most of the partnerships Redwood has established have been for electric car batteries. The company has several notable partnerships with Tesla, Volkswagen, Ford, and several others. However, this partnership is slightly different. Redwood will recycle the small-scale batteries Lyft uses in public transportation offerings, like Citi Bike in New York City.
Last week, for example, Redwood signed a deal to supply Panasonic with recycled cathode materials for EV battery production. It was just the next of many partnerships the company has signed in an attempt to make EVs more sustainable by ensuring battery materials worth salvaging for future use are not put to waste.
This is the exact mindset Lyft has for the partnership, according to an interview with The Verge. Antoine Kunsch, sustainability program manager for the company, said the entire goal is to ensure e-bike and scooter batteries do not end up in a landfill after one life cycle. Components from batteries can be saved for future projects, and with so many companies focusing on battery-based transportation, cell material recycling is a monumental development for the expansion of the industry.
Lyft will recover any e-bikes or scooters that are no longer in operation, then ship the units to Redwood’s Nevada materials processing plant, the report stated.
Redwood Materials confirmed the partnership to Teslarati. A Redwood spokesperson said the partnership with Lyft will ” help create more sustainable, shared micro-mobility and ensure these critical materials continue to power an electric future.”
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