Redwood Materials, the battery recycling and components maker created by Tesla cofounder JB Straubel, has been awarded a $2 billion federal loan to help build up a U.S. supply base for essential components needed to make batteries for electric vehicles that are currently imported almost entirely from Asia.
The Carson City, Nevada-based company got a “conditional” commitment for the low-interest funds from the Energy Department’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program as it expands operations in its home state and prepares to build a second campus near Charleston, South Carolina. Redwood started processing recovered battery materials a few years ago in Nevada, has begun making copper foil for battery anodes and plans to make battery cathodes, using recycled minerals in both. It’s already raised over $1 billion and expects to invest about $5 billion in its Nevada and South Carolina operations.
“The vote of confidence this represents in Redwood as a business, our technology and our customers is significant,” Straubel told Forbes. It’s also financially beneficial. “This is very different than a VC investment or an equity investment. This is a favorable approach for us partly because it’s a competitive interest rate.”
