- Redwood Materials, founded by Tesla Co-Founder JB Straubel, moves into EV battery production
- The production facility will be the first of its kind in the US, swerving the IRA’s additional import tariffs
US battery recycling firm, Redwood Materials, moves into lithium-ion battery production
JB Straubel, Tesla board member and one of the EV giant’s co-founders, is leading his newest company to global success. Redwood Materials specialises in recycling used lithium-ion batteries to make components for new ones.
After gathering more than $1 billion in funding, Redwood Materials will build the first production facilities for anode and cathode materials in the US.
On top of the massive successes in funding and support, Redwood qualified for a $2 billion low-interest federal loan. The company is now worth around $5 billion. Straubel’s company topping $5 billion is a sure sign of the growth, and wealth, of the EV battery industry.
Until now, copper foil anodes and cathodes are primarily produced in China, South Korea, and Japan. Producing the components on US soil caters to President Biden’s IRA (Inflation Reduction Act), which introduces additional tariffs on imported batteries and components. The desired effect of the IRA is already apparent, as an ‘all-American’ EV battery industry seems just around the corner.
“There’s a lot of capital and a lot of projects announced and under construction in (battery) cell manufacturing—over 800 gigawatt-hours per year in just the U.S. before the end of this decade.
Business-strategy-wise, there’s a gap and a problem in the supply chain,” he said at the time. “It may not be the sexiest part of the whole (EV) realm to invest in but I think it’s urgent and may become more of a bottleneck. So we’re very focused there.”
JB Straubel, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Redwood Materials Inc.
