The companies Specialized and Redwood Materials are collaborating in order to solve the problem of recycling the batteries used in e-bikes.
The rising popularity of electric bikes has opened up a slew of new possibilities for the future of transportation, but it also brings with it a set of new challenges. One of the most pressing concerns is what to do with all those e-bike batteries when they run out of fuel. Rather than sending the batteries to a landfill, one big bicycle maker is teaming up with a Tesla co-founder to ensure they get a second chance. Specialized and Redwood Materials, run by co-founder of Tesla are to collaborate to find a way to reuse the batteries of the e-bike.
The bikes are built to remain for a long period of time whereas the batteries don’t. So, there should be way to reuse the batteries instead of throwing them in a landfill. Redwood also accepts batteries from Nissan, Amazon, and other companies for recycling. Many of the batteries from the first-generation electric vehicles, such as the Nissan Leaf, are nearing the end of their useful lives and must be recycled. Redwood guarantees that much of the recycling will be done in the United States — much of the country's e-waste is exported to developing countries for smelting — and with a focus on reuse and recovery.
The collaboration will work with Specialized collecting depleted e-bike batteries from its retail partners and ship them to Redwood's facility in Northern Nevada. Following that, Redwood will begin a chemical recycling process that will strip and refine the related elements such as nickel, cobalt, and copper. To find the materials which would be reusable. Every one of Specialized's e-bike batteries will reach to Redwood's recycling facility by the end of 2021, according to the company. The batteries are highly recyclable if correct method is used to recycle them or else it can do more damage than good for the environment.