A new partnership hopes to lessen the environmental impact of data centers and recycle EV batteries, too.
AI data center development company Crusoe Energy Systems is working with recycling company Redwood Energy to "develop a microgrid system powered through solar and repurposed electric vehicle batteries for modular AI data centers," per Data Center Dynamics.
Crusoe CEO Chase Lochmiller and Redwood CEO JB Straubel discussed the partnership in more detail with Bloomberg:
Data centers are energy-intensive, but this partnership should allow Crusoe's to be powered much more sustainably. The move will also help Redwood Energy conserve valuable resources by ensuring that batteries are reused to their fullest extent before being sent to recycling centers.
Repurposing EV batteries in this way isn't entirely new — Nissan uses its old Leaf EV batteries to store energy at Rome's Fiumicino Airport. You can use battery backups, too — although probably not from EVs — to store energy at home with solar panels.
EV batteries are made of lithium-ion, cobalt, nickel, manganese, and silicon. These valuable metals make recycling batteries worth it, but the process isn't easy. Batteries have to be carefully disassembled before being subjected to various chemical processes to separate the metals from other materials.
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Despite the associated pollution from battery production and charging, EVs are still a better choice for the environment than gas-powered cars.
Over an EV's lifetime, the "total GHG emissions associated with manufacturing, charging, and driving an EV are typically lower than the total GHGs associated with a gasoline car," according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Not only is switching to an electric vehicle good for the environment, but it's good for your wallet, too.
You could save thousands by making your next car an EV. Data from the Department of Energy found that drivers can save "up to $2,200 a year [switching to] a fully electric vehicle, and $1,500 for a hybrid electric vehicle."
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Chase Lochmiller, the CEO and co-founder of Crusoe, said this new microgrid system is "the first of many such deployments, and a prime example of Crusoe's energy-first approach to AI infrastructure from the ground up," per Data Center Dynamics.
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