Auto Recycling World OCT 2023 / Read original article
Redwood Materials is creating a circular supply chain for electric vehicles and clean energy products, making them more sustainable and reducing the cost of batteries. Founded by JB Straubel (former Chief Technology Officer and Co-founder of Tesla), the Nevada-based company is offering large-scale sources of anode and cathode materials produced at scale in the U.S. for the first time from recycled batteries.
Redwood will produce strategic battery materials, focusing on producing anode & cathode components – these two components make up nearly 80% of the cost of a battery cell, with cathode being the single most expensive component in an electric vehicle. To date, nearly all anode and cathode production feeding U.S. battery cell manufacturers occurs overseas in Asia. To make electric vehicles and energy storage products fully sustainable and affordable, we need to close the loop at the end of their life. This process means not just recycling batteries but also fully refining the metals we recover and then remanufacturing them into battery materials (anode and cathode) that can go directly back into U.S. battery production.
Redwood is ramping up its Northern Nevada battery facility and is breaking ground on its second Battery Materials Campus outside Charleston, South Carolina. Both of Redwood’s campuses will recycle, refine, and manufacture battery materials, aiming to scale production of components to 100 GWh annually.
Last week, we introduced an innovative and user-friendly tool tailor-made for automotive dismantlers: A tool to effortlessly value and sell recovered EV packs directly to Redwood, ensuring a frictionless, safe and responsible approach to end-of-life battery management.
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