Redwood Materials and Rivian are widening their existing partnership on electric vehicle batteries. The new arrangement adds a battery material recycling operation at Rivian's vehicle factory in Normal, Illinois, and could extend to other sites owned by the EV maker.
Redwood was founded by Tesla co-founder JB Straubel, and its approach is to give used EV batteries a second life as energy storage. Those systems can serve public- and private-sector buildings, construction sites, micro-grids and data centers. Rivian put that idea to use as it built out its R2 production line at the former Diamond-Star Mitsubishi plant in Normal.
The two companies first moved in that direction in April, when Rivian signed on for 10 MWh of energy storage built from repurposed Rivian battery packs. According to the source report, that agreement was only the starting point for the relationship.
Under the expanded deal, Redwood will collect, sort and recycle scrap materials generated during Rivian's battery production. Those materials will go back into the manufacturing process with minimal waste, and at a fraction of the cost of virgin material.
The agreement also covers batteries at the end of their service in Rivian vehicles. They will first be used in other stationary energy projects. Afterward, Redwood will recycle about 99% of their critical materials, which include nickel, cobalt, copper and lithium.
The timing matters because of the recent launch of the R2, which is expected to be more popular and more affordable than Rivian's earlier models. That makes the volume of battery material flowing through the company a much bigger issue than it would have been last year.
Straubel framed the partnership around grid storage and supply. "Every Rivian battery pack that comes back to us is a potential source of domestic grid energy storage in addition to critical materials," he said. He added that Redwood's ability to integrate and redeploy Rivian batteries with its technology is "an opportunity to enable fast, flexible, and more cost-efficient energy storage."
Straubel also pointed to rising energy demand and costs. "As the demand and cost for energy keep rising, working with companies like Rivian is how we help meet these challenges," he said.
Rivian is the latest major automaker to enter a formal battery recycling partnership with Redwood. BMW, Ford, Toyota and Volvo are among the brands that have already done so.
