Redwood Materials Gets $2 Billion Federal Funds For EV Battery Materials Plant

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The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) has announced a loan of $2 billion to Redwood Materials for the construction and expansion of a battery materials campus in Nevada. This is to support the growing EV market in America.

DOE said that the Redwood Materials project will be the first facility in USA to support production of anode copper foil and cathode active materials in a fully closed-loop lithium-ion battery manufacturing process by recycling end-of-life battery and production scrap and remanufacturing that feedstock into critical materials.

Redwood Materials will thus create 3,400 construction jobs and employ 1,600 full-time employees. As per the statement of DOE, the project is a significant step towards meeting the Biden Administration’s target of making half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 zero-emissions vehicles, including battery electric, plug-in hybrid electric, or fuel cell electric vehicles.

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At full production capacity, the Redwood Materials facility output of anode copper foil and cathode active material will support the production of more than 1 million EVs per year. this will reduce annual gasoline consumption by over 395 million gallons and avoiding more than 3.5 million tons of CO2 emissions each year.

Redwood Materials will use both new and recycled feedstocks like lithium, nickel, and cobalt to produce about 36,000 metric tons of ultra-thin battery-grade copper foil per year. It will also produce 100,000 metric tons per year of cathode active materials. These are the two most critical components of lithium-ion battery manufacturing.

At present, nearly all anode and cathode production supporting U.S. battery cell manufacturers occurs in Asia. Redwood Materials will now lead one of the first domestic projects that produces cathode materials at scale for battery cell manufacturing.  The share of annual battery-powered EVs is expected to rise from about 2% in 2020 to 35% by 2030 in the US.

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Also, Redwood Materials can recover greater than 95% of the critical battery elements in an end-of-life battery. Its Nevada operation recycles end-of-life batteries from consumer electronics like cell phone batteries, laptop computers, power tools, and other electronic waste, remanufacturing these feedstocks into critical components that help support the domestic lithium-ion battery supply chain.

Redwood Materials currently has partnerships with several existing and prospective EV battery manufacturers in the United States. These off-takers include Panasonic Energy located nearby at the Tesla Gigafactory and it has another facility under construction in Kansas that will source Redwood Materials cathode and anode materials for battery cell production.

This project helps meet the goals put forth by the Biden Administration’s Executive Order 14017 on America’s Supply Chains, including the promotion of domestic critical materials recycling and manufacturing.