Redwood Materials and Ultium Cells team up to recycle GM’s electric vehicle battery waste

Redwood Materials, the battery recycling startup founded by former Tesla co-founder JB Straubel, is making waves in the industry with its latest partnership. The company announced on Thursday that it will be recycling production scrap for batteries going into General Motors electric vehicles through a collaboration with Ultium Cells, the joint battery manufacturing venture between GM and LG Energy Solution.

This move comes as the demand for battery materials continues to rise, with automakers and battery manufacturers looking to secure their supply chains and reduce reliance on China. Incentives in the U.S. and abroad are driving the push for recycled and domestically produced critical battery materials like lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, and graphite.

Redwood’s success has been further boosted by President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which provides tax credits for battery manufacturing and critical mineral processing. The company recently received a $2 billion loan from the Department of Energy to expand its battery recycling facility in Nevada.

The partnership with Ultium Cells is a significant step for Redwood, as it will allow the company to recycle scrap from GM’s battery manufacturing facilities in Ohio and Tennessee. This collaboration will help Redwood process high-quality battery materials, which will then be supplied back to cell manufacturers as domestically produced components.

With plans to expand its production capacity to power millions of electric vehicles by 2030, Redwood is positioning itself as a key player in the battery recycling industry. The company’s focus on processing materials locally, rather than sending them overseas for processing, is a strategic move that could pay off in the long run. As the demand for electric vehicles continues to grow, partnerships like this one will be crucial in ensuring a sustainable supply chain for battery materials.