Redwood Materials
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Battery recycling, Battery materials manufacturing |
| Founded | 2017 |
| Founder | J. B. Straubel |
| Headquarters | Carson City , United States |
Area served | United States, Europe |
Key people | J. B. Straubel (Founder) |
| Products | Recycled battery materials, anode copper foil, cathode active materials |
Redwood Materials, Inc. is a U.S.-based enterprise located in Carson City, Nevada, focused on the recycling of lithium-ion batteries and manufacturing battery components for electromobility and energy storage applications. Established in 2017 by J. B. Straubel, a co-founder and former CTO of Tesla, Redwood’s mission is to establish a sustainable, circular supply chain for electric vehicles and clean energy technologies by creating a fully closed-loop system for lithium-ion batteries. By October 2025, the company’s valuation reached around $6 billion.
History
J. B. Straubel played a pivotal role in Tesla’s initial battery design and power electronics development, influencing the company’s engineering strategy and contributing to the Gigafactory initiative. Following his departure from Tesla, he launched Redwood Materials with the goal of recycling batteries to reclaim valuable metals such as nickel, cobalt, lithium, and copper. By 2022, Redwood reported recycling enough end-of-life batteries yearly to provide materials for approximately 60,000 new electric vehicles, achieving metal recovery rates exceeding 95%.
The company manufactures critical battery materials including anode copper foil and cathode active substances, partnering with firms like Panasonic, Ford Motor Company, and Amazon. In 2022, Redwood teamed up with Ford and Volvo to initiate a used battery collection scheme in California, transporting retired vehicle batteries to its Nevada processing plant.
In 2021, Redwood secured $775 million in funding aimed at constructing a production facility with an initial recycled material processing capacity of 6 GWh annually. The firm intends to scale this output to 100 GWh by 2025—sufficient for one million electric vehicles—and further increase it to 500 GWh by 2030.
February 2023 saw Redwood obtain a $2 billion conditional low-interest loan from the US Department of Energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program to boost domestic manufacturing capabilities, including establishing a new site in Charleston, South Carolina. That same year, Redwood expanded its European footprint through the acquisition of German recycler Redux.
By March 2023, Redwood announced it had recovered over 95% of essential metals from approximately half a million pounds of discarded NiMH and Li-Ion battery packs. In January 2024, construction began on a $3.5 billion battery manufacturing plant in South Carolina designed to operate solely on electric power without reliance on fossil fuels. In May 2024, Time recognized Redwood as one of the world’s 100 most influential companies.
Investors
The $775 million Series C financing round attracted prominent investors such as T. Rowe Price, Goldman Sachs, Baillie Gifford, Fidelity, along with corporate backers like Ford Motor Company and Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund.
Additionally, Redwood raised $350 million during its Series E funding led by Eclipse Capital and Nvidia’s NVentures, supporting further growth in its battery recycling operations.
See also
Further reading