GM groups up with Redwood Supplies to energy knowledge facilities with EV batteries

GM is sending new and outdated EV batteries to recycler Redwood Supplies, which then repurposes the packs for stationary power storage storage, the 2 firms introduced right now.

Second-life batteries from GM have already made their means by way of Redwood’s course of and right into a 12 megawatt microgrid on the firm’s Sparks, Nevada, headquarters. Electrical energy from that set up then flows to a close-by 2,000 GPU knowledge heart owned by Crusoe.

The microgrid is a part of Redwood’s new power storage division that launched publicly in June and focuses on repurposing EV batteries for grid-scale power storage. By means of testing, the corporate discovered that most of the cells which arrived at its amenities nonetheless had a superb quantity of life left in them. 

Fairly than recycle the embedded supplies, the corporate stored the packs intact, then linked them to create a big power storage system that may retailer extra electrical energy, typically generated by photo voltaic and wind, for later use. The batteries for the Crusoe undertaking are fed by photo voltaic panels.

“I believe this has the potential to develop sooner than the core recycling enterprise,” Redwood co-founder and CEO JB Straubel mentioned on the time. Redwood already recovers round 70% of all used or discarded batteries within the U.S. The corporate plans to deploy 20 gigawatt-hours of power storage by 2028.

Redwood isn’t the one firm following that playbook, although its skill to combine quite a lot of packs — from totally different producers and chemistries — might give it an edge over rivals.

Each GM and Redwood have an current settlement, however the brand new collaboration marks an growth.

One notable element: GM’s willingness to produce Redwood with new batteries, not simply outdated ones, offers it a hedge towards uneven development in EV gross sales. New gross sales dipped 6.3% within the second quarter of this 12 months, in line with Cox Automotive, although they’re anticipated to surge earlier than tax credit are phased out September 30.

Power storage, alternatively, has been rising constantly in recent times. New installations within the first quarter of this 12 months hit a brand new file, up 57% year-over-year.