Lime, a shared micromobility company, has finalized an agreement for recycling its scooter and e-bike batteries with Redwood Materials. Under this agreement, Redwood Materials will extract and recycle essential minerals, including lithium, cobalt, nickel, and copper.
The agreement, announced on Monday, designates Redwood Materials as the exclusive battery recycling partner for Lime’s shared scooters and e-bikes in cities across the United States, Germany, and The Netherlands. This partnership does not encompass all regions where Lime operates, such as cities in Europe, Asia, and Australia.
Previously, Lime had engaged in other recycling partnerships, notably with Sprout through its downstream vendors. However, this marks the first direct relationship between the micromobility company and a battery recycler in North America, facilitating direct processing of materials for recovery and reintegration into the supply chain.
Redwood Materials, a startup based in Carson City, Nevada, and founded by former Tesla CFO JB Straubel, will recover materials from batteries that are no longer usable. After recovery and recycling, these materials will be reintroduced into the battery manufacturing process. This closed-loop manufacturing system, which aims to reduce the need for mining and refining minerals, is central to Redwood Materials’ business model.
This initiative is also consistent with Lime’s sustainability objectives, which include a goal to decarbonize its operations by 2030. Lime has achieved a 59.5% reduction in Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions over five years from its 2019 baseline. The company intends to report its 2024 carbon emissions results in May.
Andrew Savage, VP for Sustainability at Lime, stated that the collaboration signifies meaningful progress towards creating a more circular supply chain, emphasizing responsible recycling of batteries and returning their materials to the supply chain.
Additionally, Lime maintains partnerships with Gomi in the UK and VoltR in France and other European countries to repurpose viable battery cells for “second life” applications, including uses in consumer electronics like portable speakers and battery packs.
Redwood Materials also holds recycling agreements with other micromobility companies, such as Lyft, Rad Power Bikes, and Specialized, to process their e-bike and scooter batteries. Having raised over $2 billion in private funds, Redwood Materials recently launched an R&D center in San Francisco as part of its expansion efforts.
