| Redwood Materials, Inc. | |
| Type: | Private |
| Founder: | J. B. Straubel |
| Key People: |
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| Num Employees: | 800 |
| Num Employees Year: | 2023 |
| Location City: | Carson City, Nevada |
| Location Country: | United States |
Redwood Materials, Inc. is an American company headquartered in Carson City, Nevada. The company aims to recycle lithium-ion batteries and produce battery materials for electromobility and electrical storage systems.[1] Founded in 2017 by J. B. Straubel, Redwood Materials was reported to have a valuation of about $3.7 billion as of July 2021.[2]
Redwood Materials was founded in 2017 by J. B. Straubel, who was a co-founder and served as chief technology officer at Tesla, Inc. for 16 years.[3] Redwood set out to create a circular supply chain for electric vehicles and clean energy products, making them more sustainable long term and driving down the cost for batteries by developing a fully closed loop for lithium-ion batteries. Redwood sought to recycle batteries, recapturing valuable materials to help make new batteries.[4]
On its website in 2022 Redwood Materials explained that the company received enough end-of-life batteries annually to provide critical materials for new batteries for about 60,000 new electric vehicles. Redwood estimated that it was recovering more than 95% of the metals (including nickel, cobalt, lithium, and copper) from end-of-life batteries.[5]
Redwood then produces strategic battery materials, supplying battery manufacturing partners with anode copper foil and cathode active materials.
Redwood is partnered with companies such as Panasonic, Ford Motor Company, and Amazon.[6]
Along with Ford and Volvo, Redwood Materials launched a used battery collection program for the state of California in February of 2022. Ford, Volvo and their dealers planned to work with battery dismantlers and ship old vehicle batteries to Redwood Material's plant in Carson City, Nevada.[7]
In 2021, the company announced it had received US$775M from various investors in a financing round. This will be used to build a production facility that will produce battery materials from recycled materials, starting at 6 GWh per year.[8] By 2025, the capacity of the production facilities is to be expanded to 100 GWh, enough for one million electric vehicles. By 2030, capacity is expected to increase to 500 GWh.
Redwood secured a $2 billion conditional low-cost loan awarded by the US Department of Energy's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program in February 2023. The company which relies primarily on Asia for importing essential components to make EV batteries said it would use the funds to build a supply base in the US and expand operations by building a facility in Charleston, South Carolina.[9] Redwood acquired German recycling company Redux in 2023.[10]
In March 2023 Redwood claimed to have recovered more than 95% of important metals (incl. lithium, cobalt, nickel and copper) from of old NiMH and Li-Ion packs.[11]
Redwood was listed by Time magazine as one of 100 the most influential companies in 2024.[12]
Investors in Redwood Materials' $775M Series C include T. Rowe Price, Goldman Sachs, Baillie Gifford, Fidelity, Ford Motor Company and Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund.[13]