One of the biggest automakers in the world is making a new bet on battery recycling.

‍What’s happening:‍

• Redwood Materials has announced a new partnership to recycle the scrap from batteries being produced for electric vehicles manufactured by General Motors (NYSE: GM)
  

How it works:‍

• Redwood Materials with collaborate with Ultium Cells to take production scrap from batteries being manufactured for General Motors vehicles and turn them into new materials for electric vehicle batteries
  
• Ultium Cells will supply Redwood Materials with cathode and anode scrap from the production of new batteries which will ultimately either be recycled and repurposed
  
• Redwood is aiming to turn as much of the cathode and anode scrap as possible into new, high quality battery materials for future domestic battery production
  

By the numbers:‍

• The United States Department of Energy previously gave Redwood Batteries a $2B USD loan to build out their battery recycling facility in Nevada
  

Going deeper:‍

• Ultium Cells was originally formed as a joint venture between General Motors and LG Energy Solutions, who is one of the world’s largest producers of lithium-ion batteries
  
• The United States government has introduced multiple incentives focused on domestic battery manufacturing as well as domestic battery materials in an effort to reduce their dependance on China, including incentives for metals such as nickel

The intrigue:‍

• Redwood Batteries is founded by JB Straubel, who was previously a co-founder of Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA)

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