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Former Tesla CTO Straubel says EV batteries will last 15 years


Typically, electric vehicle batteries last longer — and more miles — than originally intended.

According to former Tesla CTO and JB Straubel co-founder, EV battery packs will have a lifespan of about 15 years – an important piece for the timeline as Straubel’s current business ventures, Redwood materialbecome part of the recycled material supply chain for EV batteries.

Currently, however, most EV battery warranties or guarantees are less than that. One of the boldest claims is from Toyota and its upcoming bZ4X – that it will retain 90% battery capacity after 10 years ownership

Tesla CTO JB Straubel and CEO Elon Musk giving a presentation at the gigafactory tour, Reno, Nevada, July 2016

Tesla CTO JB Straubel and CEO Elon Musk giving a presentation at the gigafactory tour, Reno, Nevada, July 2016

Last May, California proposed a battery endurance and attenuation requirements: those EV batteries for the 2026 model year and then maintain 80% of their original range for 15 years or 150,000 miles. In one draft form of the regulation made by CARB in December, that claim was dramatically reduced following the automaker’s lawsuit — to 80% in eight years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first.

The battery comments are just a small portion of an interview conducted earlier this month by author and energy expert Daniel Yergin, as part of IHS Markit’s CERAWeek 2022,

In it, Redwood CEO Straubel emphasized that the raw materials that go into EV batteries are different. They are needed, but they are not actually consumed, so the entire supply chain needs to be re-conceived in a closed loop and something close to full recovery.

Redwood material

Redwood material

He explained that between 50% and 70% of the cost of lithium-ion batteries lies in the “strategic raw materials,” not the manufacturing, and for that reason Moore’s law does not apply to batteries. He notes that recycling will be the future for how nearly all materials move, and that reducing costs in that logistics chain is key to reducing battery costs.

Straubel also emphasizes that it’s completely different from recycling those plastic bottles in your kitchen. Redwood is looking to link recycling directly with manufacturing.

Visiting the mines and seeing the scale and magnitude of the challenge to increasing their capacity by a large margin helped Straubel realize the burden — and the need for recovered material to achieve the scale for electric vehicle supply chain, he explained.

Redwood material

Redwood material

“We basically have to build an unproductive infrastructure on the same scale as we had to build to make them in the first place,” he stressed. Currently Redwood is processing between 8-10 GWh per year – enough for batteries for hundreds of thousands of EVs – although according to market research firm Wood Mackenzie, the industry surrounds battery recycling. will not see exponential growth until 2030.

Redwood has faced a number of challenges – finding enough experts in electrochemistry and metallurgy, fields that have largely moved abroad. And automating the classification of different batteries and chemistries presents a particular challenge.

Straubel noted that target customers are also changing as they scramble to secure the supply chain. While a few years ago the customer could be a cathode manufacturer or a battery manufacturer, now because of a strategic material need their customer could be an OEM. like Ford– conversely, one can redeem the material from their car battery pack.

We’ve dug into the interview below, and it’s well worth the time.



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