BATTERIES

Toyota Partners with Cirba Solutions for Battery Recycling Program

December 12, 2023

The partnership between Toyota and Cirba Solutions involves collecting, storing, processing, and recycling end-of-life EV batteries.
Toyota will save up to 70% on transportation costs and transportation-related emissions.
Cirba Solutions recovers up to 95% of critical minerals during end-of-life battery processing.
Toyota has a goal to be carbon neutral by 2035.

Toyota continues to develop innovative battery electric technology as it works toward carbon neutrality goals. The latest announcement involves recycling EV batteries to build a closed-loop battery system. Toyota will work with Cirba Solutions – a highly respected transportation and recycling company.

Expanding Recycling and Lowering Costs

The partnership will expand recycling and logistics networks for batteries in Toyota hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery-electric vehicles.

Christopher Yang, the VP of Business Development at Toyota Motor North America, said, “Cirba Solutions’ large and well-established transportation and recycling network ensures Toyota has nationwide battery collection and recycling to reduce both our costs as well as our operational carbon footprint.”

Cirba Solutions Takes Care of End-of-Life Lithium-Ion Batteries

_{Battery close up. Image care of Cirba Solutions.}

Cirba Solutions is one of the largest battery recycling companies in North America. The company recycles batteries when they reach the end of their life.

Cirba has a processing facility in Lancaster, Ohio where they collect, dismantle, and process lithium-ion batteries. The facility recently received an $82 million grant from the Bi-Partisan Infrastructure Law. This grant will help Cirba Solutions update that processing facility with the latest technology to collect up to 95% of minerals and scrap to put them back into the supply chain.

Partnering to Help the Planet

Toyota already has a robust recycling program, as the automaker has collected about 25,000 used nickel-metal hydride batteries from used hybrid vehicles like the Toyota Prius. The Toyota dealership network collects the batteries when they reach the end of life. As newer Toyota models like the bZ4x have lithium-ion batteries, the automaker needs to expand its recycling program to collect them, too.

The partnership with Cirba Solutions will help Toyota reduce several costs associated with battery collection and recycling. Cirba Solutions will provide transportation and logistics services, reducing Toyota’s costs by 70% or more, especially in the Midwest and East Coast regions.

Since the Lancaster, Ohio plant is near Cincinnati, transportation costs will drop by more than 90%. Reducing transportation doesn’t lower costs, it also reduces exhaust emissions.

Leading the Way with Battery Production and Recycling

_{2024 Toyota Prius. Image care of Toyota.}

Toyota knows batteries. Over 6.2 million plug-in hybrid and mild-hybrid vehicles in North America have been sold. In fact, they’ve sold more electrified vehicles than any other global automaker in the last 25 years.

After two decades of developing innovative battery technology for its vehicles, the automaker is focusing on what to do with batteries when they are exhausted. Toyota predicts end-of-life EV batteries will double in 2030.

Along with collecting and recycling used batteries, Toyota is building a new battery manufacturing facility. In 2025, the Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina facility is expected to open. This $14 billion facility will provide more than 5,000 good-paying jobs and support the growing interest in electric vehicles.