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When E-bikes become re-e-bikes
Most Lithium e-bike batteries have a usable lifespan of 3-4 years depending on use, which is much less than the lifespan of the bikes they power, fitting a new battery is relatively easy to get you back on or off the road. But what happens with the old dead or depleted batteries? Until now, it was a hard question to answer, but Jeffrey Straubel, the co-founder and CTO of Tesla, founded Redwood Materials back in 2017 to provide a solution. Redwood Material has just signed a deal with Specialized to collect all their used lithium e-bike batteries and recycle them. Breaking each one down and re-integrating as much of the refined materials they contain, back into new batteries. It sounds simple, but it’s a tough task, but with e-bike purchases and usage skyrocketing, boosted by the Covid pandemic, the effort and demand for this service is only set to grow. We expect this and similar programs to become a strong growth sector in 2022.
