GM sends new and old EV batteries to Redwood recycling materials, which then reinstall the packages for steady energy storage, the two companies announced today.
GM second -life batteries have already made their way through the Redwood process and a 12 -megawatt microgrid in the company’s sparks, Nevada, home. The electricity from this installation then flows to a nearby 2,000 GPU data center.
Microgrid is part of the new Redwood energy storage department that began publicly in June and focuses on resetting EV batteries to store energy. Through the tests, the company found that many of the cells that arrived at its premises still had a good life left in them.
Instead of recycling the built -in materials, the company kept the packages intact and then connects them to create a large energy storage system that can store excessive electricity, often produced by solar and wind, for later use. Batteries for the Crusoe project are powered by solar panels.
“I think this is able to grow faster than the core recycling operation,” said co -founder and CEO of Redwood JB Straubel. Redwood is already recovering about 70% of all used or rejected batteries in the US that the company plans to develop 20 Gigawatt-Hours by 2028.
Redwood is not the only company following this Playbook, although its ability to incorporate a variety of packages – from different manufacturers and chemicals – could give it an advantage over competitors.
Both GM and Redwood have an existing agreement, but the new collaboration marks an extension.
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A remarkable detail: GM’s willingness to supply Redwood with new batteries, not only old, gives it a compensation against the unequal increase in EV sales. New sales decreased by 6.3% in the second quarter of this year, according to For Cox Automotive, although they are expected to increase before tax credits are gradually abolished on September 30.
Energy storage, on the other hand, has been steadily increasing in recent years. The new installations in the first quarter of this year hit a new record, up 57% on an annual basis.
