Redwood Materials to invest $3.5 Billion on EV battery materials plant
Battery recycling firm Redwood Materials is planning to spend $3.5 Billion over the next ten years on a state-of-the-art EV battery materials plant in US state of Nevada, according to media reports.
The US-based company, led by former Tesla executive JB Straubel, is ramping up production of anode and cathode components to 100 GWh by 2025, enough to supply batteries for 1 million EVs a year. Redwood materials was founded in 2017 to build a circular battery supply chain critical for sustainable growth of the EV industry.
The capacity is planned to be further increased to 500 GWh by 2030, enough to supply 5 million EVs a year or more, as reported by Automotive News. The company is currently building a battery material processing factory near Reno, Nevada, which is expected to be one of the first U.S. facilities to produce key ingredients needed to make batteries, the report adds.
Redwood Materials is already partnering with a number of automakers including Audi, Ford, Volkswagen, Toyota and Volvo to recycle their EV batteries to extract critical metals.
In May this year, the company claimed to start the production of copper foil used for EV battery anodes at its Nevada facility by the end of 2022. Cell maker Panasonic is reported to be the company's first customer in this venture.
Recycling of EV batteries is critical for long-term stability and sustainability in the entire value chain of EVs. The success of companies like Redwood Materials in this regard will be a huge breakthrough for the global EV industry, given that the battery supply chain is facing multiple threats at different levels in recent times.
