Tesla battery recycling partner shares update on cathode facility

Redwood Materials, the Tesla battery materials recycling partner founded by JB Straubel, has shared a new construction update on its cathode active material (CAM) facility—set to be the first of its kind in the U.S.

On Tuesday, Redwood Materials announced that it “topped out” the upcoming CAM facility near Sparks, Nevada, set to become the first commercial supply of CAM in the U.S. The company and Tesla supplier notes that this facility, which is near Gigafactory Nevada, will produce 20 GWh of CAM per year, before the company upgrades the facility to 100 GWh, or enough to power 1.3 million electric vehicles (EVs) per year.

We’ve “topped out” our cathode facility, which will represent the US’ first commercial supply of CAM. This building will produce 20 GWh of CAM annually. Eventually, we’ll 5x it’s footprint to 100 GWh, enough CAM to power 1.3 million EVs annually. pic.twitter.com/v3R8QC93KS

— Redwood Materials (@RedwoodMat) August 27, 2024

Redwood’s aim is to create a circular EV battery supply chain, taking the metals from used EV batteries from automakers like Tesla, GM, Volkswagen, and others, and recycling it back into usable material for EV batteries. One year into working on end-of-life battery packs, the company announced last March that it had been able to recover roughly 95 percent of used battery materials.

The move to produce CAM locally also comes as an essential piece of the domestic battery supply chain, as U.S. automakers aim to reduce their reliance on material supplies from China and other countries.

In May, Redwood Materials made it to Time Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential companies in 2024, highlighting the company’s significant early progress on the Nevada campus CAM facility. The company also gained a $2 billion loan from the U.S. Department of Energy for the Nevada expansion, expected to support the construction of the

In January, the company also broke ground on a new $3.5 billion battery factory in South Carolina, which will use 100 percent electric operations and will refrain from fossil fuel use in its processes.

Redwood Materials puts the Tesla Cybertruck to work

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