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Redwood Materials , the battery recycling inauguration founded by former Tesla co - beginner JB Straubel , will be recycling production scrap for batteries run into General Motors electrical vehicles .
The caller announced Thursday that it ’s working withUltium Cells , the joint battery manufacturing venture between GM and LG Energy Solution , to recycle cathode , anode and cell scrap from both their Warren , Ohio and Spring Hill , Tennessee facility .
Battery recycling is a red-hot manufacture as automakers and battery maker assay to control their assault and battery material supply , rather than rely on China , the global leader in the space . Incentives in the U.S. and in realm like Europe are piling up for recycled and domestically produced critical battery materials — like lithium , Ni , cobalt , manganese and graphite .
President Joe Biden ’s Inflation Reduction Act , sign in August 2022 , provides atax creditforbattery manufacturingand critical mineral processing . Redwood benefited right away from that bill passing in February 2023 , when the Department of Energy hand the inauguration a $ 2 billion loanword to build out itsbattery recycling facilityin Nevada . The DOE also give Ultium Cells a$2.5 billion loanto modernize its cell manufacturing quickness in the U.S.
The rails to really reprocess EV batteries is a long one , since most of those batteries are being produce today and wo n’t strive the death of their lives for many years . That ’s why deals like this one with Ultium to recycle scrap are so important . sequoia — which also has sight withToyotaandPanasonic(which grow batteries for Tesla ) — has already become a family name in EV battery recycling , but any startup in this space needs a dear - term strategy to vex to rest on the prospicient runway to profits .
And scrap output is no pocket-size feat . A Redwood spokesperson told TechCrunch that the fair battery factory generates 5 % to 10 % in scrap , which translates to Redwood manage around 10,000 dozens of material each year — the equivalent weight of daily truckloads of bit .
Redwood will recycle Ultium ’s scrap and treat it into high - quality battery material , which are then supplied back to cellular phone manufacturers as domestically produced anode and cathode component , the company said .
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Processing the materials — not just recycling them — is also part of Redwood ’s foresightful - terminus strategy , as the price of materials fluctuates on a regular basis . The big money will come from processing materials , which today ordinarily get sent to Asia for processing and then sent back to the U.S.
In August 2023,Redwood raised $ 1 billionto expand its shelling recycling adeptness , with part of its goal to boost its anode Cu foil and cathode active material production capacity . The company state at the time it expect to produce around 100 gigawatt - hour annual content of cathode active material and anode enhancer , which can power 1 million eV , by 2025 . By 2030 , Redwood hope that product output would scale to 500 GWh per yr , which could power 5 million EVs . The company has not confirmed if that timeline is still precise .
Ultium Cells ’ two facility that will be supplying scrap to Redwood are each 2.8 million - solid - feet operations that are expected to grow more than 80 GWh combine barrage cells p.a. , and Redwood state it will obtain the legal age of that trash . In 2021 , Ultium also partner with Canadianbattery recycling firm Li - Cycleto recycle scrap , that deal was mutually fade away , according to GM . Ultium is also in the cognitive operation of ramp up a third adeptness inMichigan . Redwood did not say if it will get the scrap from that mill as well .
Update : GM corroborate its deal with Li - Cycle is no longer ongoing .
