Meghana KandraTesla co-founder J.B. Straubel founded the battery recycling firm, Redwood Materials. The firm announced a $700 million investment round, where external investors were involved. In the growing market of electric vehicles, the demand for lithium-ion batteries increases. Batteries and other raw materials will need to be reused if the demand should be met.
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Funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc led the funding round for Redwood Materials. Some of the investors include Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Fidelity, and Baillie Gifford. Furthermore, the series B investors are CapricornAmazon’s Climate Pledge Fund’s Technology Impact Fund, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Franklin Templeton, and Emerson Collective.
The company stated that Redwood’s ultimate goal is to create a “closed-loop supply chain for electric vehicles and energy products, making them truly sustainable and continuing to drive down the costs for batteries,”
CEO of Redwood Materials, Straubel said, “With this capital, Redwood will be able to accelerate our mission to make battery materials sustainable and affordable, accomplishing the change we need in the world with a circular economy. We’re grateful for these strategic investors who bring decades of experience investing in and supporting companies that build transformative technology and who understand the mission and value of what Redwood is working to achieve.”
Future plans
Redwood plans to expand its manufacturing facilities near Giga Texas. Their batteries will be more cost-effective and earth-friendly. Tesla already holds partnerships with Panasonic, LG Chem, and CATL in China. However, the situation will only improve when the batteries are being recycled. According to Redwood instead of scraping off materials from old batteries, the batteries should be reused, which improves the availability of batteries for carmakers.
Major automobile manufacturing companies have been working on setting up their own battery manufacturing plants. As the demand increases, recycling would be much needed and according to Redwood, they will be able to make effective batteries by recycling. The most expensive and in-demand material for making a car is batteries. While chip shortage is currently being focused on, EV makers are aware of the battery demand.
T. Rowe Price Growth Stock Fund portfolio manager Joe Fath said, “We are excited to begin this investment in the talented and accomplished team at Redwood as they expand their pursuit of building a world-class sustainable, closed-loop battery supply chain for electric vehicles,”
Fathe further added, “In our view, the need for these materials will grow exponentially over time as we enter the era of de-carbonization. We believe Redwood is well-positioned to be at the forefront of tackling this emerging and critically important problem.”
Currently Redwood is working on making batteries that are readily available. The firm is in partnership with Panasonic at the Tesla factory in Nevada, and is also in collaboration with Envision AESC in Tennesse. They are currently responsible for Nissan LEAF battery packs and Amazon for recycling lithium-ion batteries.