Redwood Materials Launches SC Plant, Pivots to Energy Storage Amid $6B Valuation

Published: Nov 7, 2025 13:57

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Tesla co-founder JB Straubel's battery recycling venture Redwood Materials has launched production at its $3.5 billion South Carolina plant, aimed at alleviating shortages of critical battery materials. The facility can recycle 20,000 tonnes of key minerals annually and, combined with its Nevada site's 60,000-tonne capacity, has become the only major U.S. cobalt supplier while producing nickel and lithium on par with the nation’s largest mines.
Amid slowing EV demand and shifting policies, the company is pivoting strategically: cathode material plant construction has been delayed, copper foil production scaled back, and focus shifted toward grid energy storage. Its newly formed Redwood Energy unit repurposes retired EV batteries into large-scale storage systems, recently deploying an integrated solar-storage project to power a data center. The company last month secured $350 million in funding at a valuation exceeding $6 billion to accelerate expansion in energy storage.

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