LG Energy Solution Forms Battery Recycling Venture
LG Energy Solution and Toyota Tsusho will launch Green Metals Battery Innovations LLC to recycle used batteries and production scraps.
Updated on Nov. 4, 2026 in Electric Vehicles
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LG Energy Solution announced on Thursday a joint venture with Toyota Tsusho called Green Metals Battery Innovations LLC, focused on battery recycling. The venture will operate a pre-processing facility in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Why it matters
The venture gives Winston-Salem a dedicated battery recycling operation tied to the electric vehicle supply chain. It also sets up a closed loop in which recovered lithium, cobalt, and nickel can return to new battery production.
The announcement describes a planned pre-processing facility in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, but no capacity, timeline, or cost figures were disclosed. The extraction did not include quantitative metrics for recovered material volumes.
The players
LG Energy Solution
A South Korean battery manufacturer and a major supplier of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, with a significant U.S. production presence.
Toyota Tsusho
The trading and logistics arm of the Toyota Group, which handles sourcing, logistics, and recycling operations across multiple regions.
The details
The facility will safely disassemble and crush used batteries and production scraps, including scraps from batteries produced for Toyota at LG Energy Solution's U.S. plant. Toyota Tsusho will collect used batteries and scrap materials across North America, and the recovered lithium, cobalt, and nickel will undergo post-processing before being reused in cathode materials and new batteries for Toyota's electric vehicles.
Timeline
Thursday, week of November 4, 2026: LG Energy Solution announces the Green Metals Battery Innovations LLC joint venture.
Roadmap
Automakers and battery makers are increasingly pursuing closed-loop recycling of lithium-ion batteries to secure supplies of lithium, cobalt, and nickel. This joint venture follows that pattern by tying recovered metals directly back into the production of batteries for Toyota's electric vehicles.
For EV owners, a domestic recycling pipeline could influence the long-term availability and cost of battery materials over time. The extraction does not indicate any immediate change to vehicle pricing, warranties, or charging access.
The takeaway
Recycling used batteries back into new cathode materials could reduce reliance on newly mined metals for future electric vehicles. Readers tracking EV supply chains can watch for the facility's opening timeline and capacity details.
Further reading
For related coverage of the broader shift in vehicle technology, see Electric Vehicles on Wisevoter.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Pulse.
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