How old electric car batteries become microgrids - new business from Redwood Materials

Redwood Materials (founded by JB Straubel, former CTO of Tesla) has announced the launch of Redwood Energy, a division that turns discarded but still functional electric vehicle (EV) batteries into modular stationary energy storage systems - microgrids.

Here's What We Know

Redwood accepts more than 20 GWh of batteries per year (equivalent to 250,000 electric vehicles), representing 90% of all lithium-ion batteries recycled in North America. Diagnostics show: up to 50% of these cells retain sufficient energy capacity to be reused in stationary applications rather than in a vehicle .

The first microgrids are already in operation on a campus in Nevada: with a capacity of 12 MW and 63 MWh, they power a 2,000 GPU data centre, in partnership with Crusoe. The company claims it's the world's largest system from the "secondary life" of batteries.

Advantages of the concept:

• The cost of such systems is measurably lower than newer solutions
• Quick commissioning without lengthy grid connection procedures and emission authorisations
• Growth potential: more than 100,000 decommissioned EVs await retirement each year, and Redwood plans to grow the pool of usable batteries by a further 5 GWh in the coming year

In addition, the node-based architecture is easily scalable, automatic and can be connected to the main grid or operate independently, on solar power or in tandem with gas-fired generators.

Context and outlook

Redwood has long played a key role in the circular economy of batteries: the company recovers up to 95% of metals (lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper) . In addition to recycling EV batteries, it produces anode foil and cathode materials at plants in Nevada and South Carolina .

The launch of Redwood Energy marks a natural growth from recycling to creating off-the-shelf energy solutions to meet the surge in demand - such as data centres and AI infrastructure.

Source: The Verge