CARSON CITY, Nevada, July 7 — When JB Straubel, the former chief technology officer of Tesla, founded Redwood Materials in 2017, few could have predicted just how quickly the world would come to need what his company does. Today, from its base in Carson City, Nevada, Redwood Materials has established itself as a leading force in lithium-ion battery recycling, processing over 6,000 tons of spent batteries each year.
The company recovers critical materials — lithium, cobalt, nickel, and copper — from old batteries and factory scrap, then feeds them back into the production of new batteries. It is a closed-loop model that, if scaled, could reduce the need for new mining and ease the environmental toll of the electric vehicle boom.
A $2 Billion Bet on American Soil
In 2023, Redwood Materials announced a major expansion: a $2 billion battery materials campus in Charleston, South Carolina. The project is expected to create 1,500 jobs. The company has already secured partnerships with some of the biggest names in automotive and electronics manufacturing: Ford Motor Company, Toyota, and Panasonic.
These collaborations involve recycling both manufacturing scrap and end-of-life batteries.
The Growing Market for Recycled Batteries
The numbers tell a story of explosive growth. According to Allied Market Research, the global lithium-ion battery recycling market was valued at $2.3 billion in 2022. By 2030, that figure is projected to reach $18.1 billion.
This is not merely a niche environmental effort; it is becoming a serious industrial sector. Redwood Materials has set an ambitious target: by 2030, the company aims to produce enough battery materials to power 5 million electric vehicles annually.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Battery Recycling Prize, launched in 2019, awarded $7.4 million to Redwood Materials and other innovators. This federal support signals that the United States is serious about building a domestic battery supply chain.
Policy Support and the Inflation Reduction Act
The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law in 2022, includes tax credits specifically for battery recycling. This policy incentive has given companies like Redwood Materials a clearer financial runway. Every ton of batteries recycled is a ton of material that does not need to be dug out of the ground.
Every partnership with a major automaker is a signal that the industry is moving toward a circular economy. The technology is still young.
The global recycling infrastructure is patchy. But the direction is clear. Redwood Materials, with its Nevada roots and South Carolina expansion, is part of a wave that is reshaping how the world thinks about batteries — not as disposable commodities, but as resources to be recovered and reused.
As the company pushes toward its 2030 goal of powering 5 million electric vehicles annually, the answer will unfold over the next few years, one battery at a time.
