Redwood Supplies, the battery recycling startup based by former Tesla co-founder JB Straubel, will probably be recycling manufacturing scrap for batteries going into Basic Motors electrical automobiles.
The corporate introduced Thursday that it’s working with Ultium Cells, the joint battery manufacturing enterprise between GM and LG Vitality Answer, to recycle cathode, anode and cell scrap from each their Warren, Ohio and Spring Hill, Tennessee services.
Battery recycling is a sizzling trade as automakers and battery producers search to regulate their battery materials provide, fairly than depend on China, the worldwide chief within the area. Incentives within the U.S. and in areas like Europe are piling up for recycled and domestically produced important battery supplies — like lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese and graphite.
President Joe Biden’s Inflation Discount Act, signed in August 2022, supplies a tax credit score for battery manufacturing and important mineral processing. Redwood benefited instantly from that invoice passing in February 2023, when the Division of Vitality gave the startup a $2 billion mortgage to construct out its battery recycling facility in Nevada. The DOE additionally gave Ultium Cells a $2.5 billion mortgage to develop its cell manufacturing services within the U.S.
The runway to truly recycle EV batteries is an extended one, since most of these batteries are being produced right this moment and received’t attain the top of their lives for a few years. That’s why offers like this one with Ultium to recycle scrap are so vital. Redwood — which additionally has offers with Toyota and Panasonic (which produces batteries for Tesla) — has already turn into a family title in EV battery recycling, however any startup on this area wants a near-term technique to stay to remain on the lengthy runway to income.
And scrap manufacturing is not any small feat. A Redwood spokesperson instructed TechCrunch that the typical battery manufacturing facility generates 5% to 10% in scrap, which interprets to Redwood managing round 10,000 tons of fabric yearly — the equal of day by day truckloads of scrap.
Redwood will recycle Ultium’s scrap and course of it into high-quality battery supplies, that are then equipped again to cell producers as domestically produced anode and cathode parts, the corporate stated.
Processing the supplies — not simply recycling them — can also be a part of Redwood’s long-term technique, as the value of supplies fluctuates commonly. The large cash will come from processing supplies, which right this moment normally get despatched to Asia for processing after which despatched again to the U.S.
In August 2023, Redwood raised $1 billion to increase its battery recycling services, with a part of its aim to spice up its anode copper foil and cathode energetic materials manufacturing capability. The corporate stated on the time it anticipated to supply round 100 gigawatt-hours annual capability of cathode energetic supplies and anode foil, which might energy 1 million EVs, by 2025. By 2030, Redwood hopes that manufacturing output would scale to 500 GWh per yr, which might energy 5 million EVs. The corporate has not confirmed if that timeline remains to be correct.
Ultium Cells’ two services that will probably be supplying scrap to Redwood are every 2.8 million-square-feet operations which might be anticipated to supply greater than 80 GWh mixed battery cells yearly, and Redwood says it is going to obtain the vast majority of that scrap. In 2021, Ultium additionally partnered with Canadian battery recycling agency Li-Cycle to recycle scrap, however GM has not confirmed if that deal remains to be ongoing. Ultium can also be within the technique of constructing a 3rd facility in Michigan. Redwood didn’t say if it is going to get the scrap from that manufacturing facility as properly.
