Inside a battery recycling facility

Hello and invited to the first-ever variation of The Spark!

Thanks truthful overmuch for joining maine for this play clime newsletter, wherever we’ll research tech that could assistance combat the clime crisis. I’m truthful gladsome you’re here!

This week, we’re kicking things disconnected with a peculiar question variation of the newsletter. So buckle up, due to the fact that we’re headed to the mountains conscionable extracurricular Reno, Nevada to instrumentality a look wrong a artillery recycling facility.

Arriving successful Reno felt similar stepping into an aged Western movie. Tumbleweeds blew crossed the road, and arsenic I turned disconnected the road I spotted immoderate of the area’s famous wild horses. But occidental Nevada is besides location to tech powerhouses. The archetypal Tesla Gigafactory is here, and little than 10 miles away, my destination: a monolithic caller artillery recycling installation from Redwood Materials.

The startup is simply a blistery taxable successful the electrical conveyance world. Founded by ex-Tesla co-founder and CTO JB Straubel, Redwood has raised implicit $700 cardinal dollars to recycle aged batteries and nutrient materials for caller ones. It’s signed deals with car manufacturers, artillery giants, and adjacent user retailers similar Amazon.

Battery recycling could beryllium much than conscionable a landfill alternate for dormant batteries. Some experts accidental that aged batteries could beryllium a important root for immoderate of the captious minerals that volition beryllium successful abbreviated proviso arsenic request for batteries skyrockets.

Recycling facilities could besides beryllium cardinal successful shifting the planetary powerfulness dynamics astir artillery proviso chains. New EV taxation credits successful the US travel with restrictions connected worldly sourcing, truthful utilizing materials recycled successful the US could beryllium a mode for carmakers to guarantee their vehicles qualify. For much connected those taxation credits, instrumentality a look astatine this piece I wrote connected the topic.

Earlier this year, Redwood Materials announced that they were gathering a $3.5 cardinal artillery recycling installation successful Nevada. The institution says that by 2025, the tract will produce capable worldly each twelvemonth to marque astir 100 gigawatt-hours worthy of caller batteries, the equivalent of astir a million EVs. 

When I visited past week, operation was good underway, and the company plans to beryllium up and moving with immoderate operations astatine the caller installation by the extremity of the year. 

We walked astir the tract successful information vests and hard hats, archetypal taking a look astatine the foundations and framework for the hydrometallurgical building, wherever sorted and crushed artillery materials volition spell done a chemic process to isolate the astir invaluable metals: lithium, nickel, cobalt, and copper.

I besides got to instrumentality a look wrong a accumulation gathering that's the furthest on connected the site. Machines housed determination volition instrumentality recycled copper and nutrient copper foil, which Redwood will sell to artillery makers. The machine, which should come online by the extremity of the year, was tucked distant successful a tiny country of the building—there’s plentifulness of country for aboriginal expansion. 

We wrapped up our circuit successful a sprawling parking batch wherever Redwood is banking immoderate of the batteries they’ve collected portion they decorativeness up construction. In total, it’s implicit 10 acres of boxes filled with laptops, EV modules, and adjacent aged toys. 

I’ve been fascinated by the worldly that makes up the vigor transition—where we get it from, and wherever it goes. That contented is seemingly beforehand of caput for galore of you too: each communicative I people connected a caller benignant of artillery (like this plastic battery, oregon this solid one) draws astatine slightest a question oregon 2 astir the recycling prospects for that peculiar makeup. 

Stay tuned for overmuch much astir artillery materials and recycling successful an upcoming story, and fto maine cognize what questions you person astir the taxable successful the meantime.

Climate Tech

I’ve got large quality for you…Climate Tech starts one week from today! This is MIT Technology Review’s archetypal ever clime event, and there’s inactive clip to articulation america if you haven’t already signed up. 

Over the people of 2 days, Tech Review unit volition beryllium sitting down with each sorts of clime experts, from startup founders to argumentation wizards. It’s a large accidental to larn astir a immense scope of clime exertion and conscionable immoderate of the radical making change. 

There’s truthful overmuch I’m looking guardant to, but 1 league successful peculiar that I person my eyes connected is my workfellow James Temple’s interrogation with Impossible Foods founder Patrick Brown. Food and agriculture correspond 1 of those elephantine pieces of the clime puzzle wherever we inactive request to spot plentifulness of innovation, and I can’t hold to perceive what those 2 get into. For a preview, cheque out this 2020 Q&A from the pair. 

So register to articulation us, either unrecorded successful Cambridge oregon online! Hope to spot you there! 

Keeping up with climate

AI and robots are helping researchers physique amended batteries. Researchers utilized a instrumentality learning exemplary called Dragonfly and a robot called Clio to assistance them plan caller electrolytes for lithium-ion batteries. (Electrolyte is the liquid that helps determination complaint astir successful a battery.) Better electrolytes could mean faster charging for EVs. (MIT Technology Review)

The Nord Stream pipeline methane leaks are a clime disaster, but fossil fuels accumulation emits more. The Russian pipelines person leaked astir 300,000 metric tons of methane, a almighty greenhouse gas. Global lipid and state accumulation emits that magnitude each 1.5 days. (Bloomberg $)

Another electrical level institution is moving trial flights. Eviation’s prototype, Alice, took to the skies implicit Washington authorities past week. (Seattle Times) But batteries are inactive a agelong mode from powering the planes of the future—for much connected why, cheque out my nonfiction from August connected the topic. 

Here's however communities should rebuild aft Hurricane Ian. Climate alteration is making hurricanes much aggravated and much common—hurricane-prone areas tin assistance bounds aboriginal harm by gathering much enactment defense, pursuing smarter gathering codes, and successful immoderate cases, moving on. (New York Times $)

Just for fun

It’s officially abdominous carnivore week!! Each year, Katmai National Park successful Alaska invites america each to justice which of their brownish bears is plumpest. So marque your dependable heard—vote here, and bask this delightful data visualization from the Washington Post connected conscionable however abdominous these bears truly are. 

That’s each folks! Thanks truthful overmuch for reading, and if you person ideas oregon suggestions for this newsletter, consciousness escaped to drop maine a line. Until adjacent time!

Casey