JB Straubel’s Redwood launches energy business focused on second-life EV batteries

Redwood Materials, the battery recycling firm founded by Tesla co-founder JB Straubel, has launched a new venture called Redwood Energy. The business aims to repurpose used electric vehicle batteries into large-scale, low-cost energy storage systems.

In a post on X, Redwood revealed that it has already deployed a 12 MW, 63 MWh microgrid powered entirely by second-life EV batteries. The system is currently powering a modular data center for Crusoe AI, and it already operates at a lower cost than conventional solutions.

Repurposed batteries for scalable storage

Redwood Energy is designed to bridge the gap between battery recovery and recycling by extracting value from discarded EV packs that still hold usable charge. In a blog post, Redwood stated that many EV battery packs retain more than 50% of their capacity after being retired from vehicles. That remaining energy is well suited for stationary storage applications even without recycling.

The process begins with Redwood’s collection and diagnostics system, which identifies battery packs that are still suitable for reuse. Those packs are then integrated into modular energy systems that can store energy from solar, wind, or the grid. Once the batteries reach true end-of-life, they are recycled through Redwood’s closed-loop system to recover critical minerals.

Meeting the demands of an AI-driven grid

Redwood estimates that more than 100,000 EVs will be retired this year in the United States, with millions more currently on the road. These vehicles represent hundreds of gigawatt-hours of storage potential. These resources are coming in at the right time, as electricity demand is rising rapidly amid the rise of artificial intelligence, which tends to be power-hungry.

Redwood Energy already has more than 1 GWh of second-life batteries in its deployment pipeline. That figure is expected to grow to 5 GWh in the coming year. Larger 100 MW projects are also in development.

The post JB Straubel’s Redwood launches energy business focused on second-life EV batteries appeared first on TESLARATI.

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