Toyota Motor North America is expanding its battery recycling network with a new collaboration with Cirba Solutions, a battery recycling materials and management company. The agreement will expand Toyota’s battery recycling network and optimize its logistics network for end-of-life electrified vehicle battery collection, including those from hybrid (HEV), plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and battery electric vehicles (BEV), the manufacturer said.

Toyota said its collaboration with Cirba Solutions will focus on the collection, transportation, dismantling and processing of end-of-life lithium-ion electrified vehicle batteries from the Midwest and East Coast regions. Processing will take place at Cirba Solutions’ Lancaster, Ohio facility, which recently received an $82+ million Department of Energy grant as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This facility will use advanced technology to extract critical minerals from scrap and end-of-life batteries with an up to 95% recovery rate, then supply battery-grade metals back into the supply chain.

Toyota currently collects approximately 25,000 used automotive batteries, primarily nickel-metal hydride batteries found in its hybrid electric vehicles, from its dealership network each year, and expects the number of batteries, particularly end-of-life lithium-ion batteries, to rise as the number of battery electric vehicles it sells increases in the future. Through the agreement with Cirba Solutions, Toyota says it expects to reduce its overall transportation and logistics costs by at least 70% by reducing the average miles driven for collection and recycling from 1,251 to 582, based on 2022 data, and by focusing on the Midwest and East Coast regions. In some cases, such as the Cincinnati region, the new recycling collaboration should reduce the total mileage driven for these activities by approximately 94%. In addition, the company said it expects that by reducing the number of miles driven for collection and recycling activities, it will be able to make a significant reduction in transportation-related emissions as well.