Cyclic, Lime Partner to Recover Rare Earth Magnets from Electric Bike and Scooter Motors

In a groundbreaking step for sustainable transportation and materials circularity, Cyclic Materials, a leader in circular rare-earth element (REE) recovery, and Lime, the world’s largest micromobility electric vehicle provider, announced a strategic partnership last week to recycle magnets from decommissioned e-bike and e-scooter motors across North America.

This partnership marks the first large-scale rare earth magnet recycling initiative in the micromobility sector on the continent—a significant milestone in advancing urban clean mobility and resource sustainability.

Turning E-Waste into a Renewable Resource

Under the agreement, Cyclic Materials will recover and recycle rare-earth elements—specifically from NdFeB magnets (neodymium-iron-boron)—within electric motors from retired Lime vehicles operating in the U.S. and Canada. These operations will be centered at Cyclic’s new facility in Mesa, Arizona, and its flagship location in Kingston, Ontario, enabling scalable and regional processing capacity.

This collaboration comes at a time when the global recycling rate for rare earth magnets remains shockingly low—under 1%, according to Adamas Intelligence. Meanwhile, the U.S. alone is projected to generate over 43,000 metric tonnes of end-of-life rare earth magnets by 2035, making these disused components an untapped and urgent sustainability opportunity.

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Cyclic will apply its proprietary MagCycle℠ and REEPure℠ technologies to extract and refine REEs from Lime’s end-of-life vehicle motors. These innovations enable efficient recovery of high-purity materials—critical for reducing dependency on mining and bolstering domestic supply chains for clean energy technologies.

By closing the loop on rare-earth magnets, Cyclic and Lime are demonstrating that sustainability in transportation must extend beyond zero emissions to include materials circularity.

A Model for Urban Mobility and Climate Action

Lime’s fleet of over 270,000 electric vehicles has already facilitated hundreds of millions of rides globally, becoming a vital part of low-carbon transit in urban environments. Since 2019, Lime has reduced CO2 emissions by nearly 60%, accelerating toward its goal of net-zero emissions by 2030.

This new partnership strengthens Lime’s environmental commitment by tackling the often-overlooked environmental cost of EV materials—setting a powerful precedent for the entire industry.

Cyclic and Lime plan to launch operations within weeks, with the first shipments of retired vehicle motors already scheduled. Collection, transport, and processing activities are expected to ramp up significantly throughout 2025, creating a repeatable model for REE recycling across additional sectors.

This partnership not only advances sustainable micromobility but also helps build a resilient, circular supply chain for critical materials—one that supports a cleaner, more secure energy future.

EVinfo.net’s Take

The ability to recycle EV batteries is one of many reasons why EVs are more eco friendly than internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. Once oil is “drill, baby, drilled” from the earth it is converted to gasoline, and then burned in vehicles and other applications to create planet-harming greenhouse gases (GHG).

Once gas is burned, its gone forever, except for the GHGs that will continue warming the earth. Drilling oil is becoming more expensive and difficult, as the world’s oil resources in the ground are finite and dwindling.

Unlike gas, batteries, the power source of EVs, can be recycled for use over and over again. Minerals are recovered from batteries, including EV batteries, during the recycling process. Two leaders in battery recycling are Redwood Materials and Cirba Solutions, which EVinfo.net has reported on.

We are excited to report on this exciting new partnership between Lime and Cyclic Materials to recover and recycle rare-earth elements within electric motors, as this is the first we’ve heard of such an effort involving motors instead of batteries.

Edumunds reported that according to Experian, out of the 292.3 million cars and trucks on the road in the U.S. in 2024, approximately 4 million of those were electric cars, up from 2 million electric vehicles in 2022 and 1.3 million in 2021. By 2030, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory predicts there could be 30 million to 42 million electric vehicles on America’s roads.

In 2008, BMW launched the Mini E as its first electric vehicle, a prototype designed for testing and research into electric powertrain technology. The Mini E was also developed in response to California’s zero-emission vehicle regulations. BMW later expanded its EV offerings with the i3 and i8 models.

EVinfo.net recommends BMW’s EVs. We also recommend fast, fun, reliable and high-quality EVs by Ford, Hyundai/Kia, Rivian, Mercedes-Benz, GM, Porsche, Volkswagen, Lucid Motors, Audi, Mini Cooper, Polestar, Volvo, Jeep, and Honda.

Harvard Health Publishing, a part of Harvard Medical School, reported that between 2018 and 2022, sales of e-bikes rose from around 250,000 per year to more than a million, and that E-bike and e-scooter rentals have also increased dramatically. As E-bike and e-scooter popularity grows, emergency rooms are seeing many more people injured while riding e-bikes and e-scooters, due to unfamiliarity of the speed of the vehicles.

Harvard gives valuable safety tips for riders. Do what you can to join EVinfo.net in supporting Harvard, one of America’s oldest and most respected universities. Make a donation today.

In the short 17 years from 2008 until 2025, the EV industry has innovated faster and more significantly than the global automotive industry has ever seen in its entire history, since gas vehicles first took over from horse-drawn carriages. It’s an absolute sea change, the incredibly fast-moving EV revolution.

EVinfo.net is excited to be a part of this historic transformation. Our marketing services are tailored to our highly commendable EV industry colleagues, helping them get the word out about their exciting innovations, while they are making the world a better place, with cleaner air and cost savings for vehicle owners.