REDWOOD MATERIALS

JB Straubel was Tesla's co-founder and CTO from 2004 to 2019. He was the technical brains behind Tesla's battery systems, the Supercharger network, and the Nevada Gigafactory.

While at Tesla, he saw the looming problem: millions of EV batteries would eventually reach end of life, and the critical minerals inside them (lithium, cobalt, nickel) would either go to landfills or need to be mined again at enormous environmental cost. In 2017, he quietly founded Redwood Materials in his garage in Nevada.

He left his Tesla CTO role in 2019 to run Redwood full-time.

Redwood Materials collects end-of-life lithium-ion batteries (from EVs, consumer electronics, and manufacturing scrap), shreds and processes them, and recovers critical materials: lithium, cobalt, nickel, and copper. They then refine these materials into battery-grade components — cathode active materials and copper foil — that go directly back into new batteries.

Revenue comes from selling these recycled materials to battery manufacturers. The economic model is compelling: recycled materials are cheaper than mining new ones, and they keep supply chains domestic.

Battery recycling services (EV batteries, consumer electronics), cathode active material production, copper foil production, collection programs for end-of-life batteries, manufacturing scrap recycling partnerships.

Redwood's strategy is to build the complete battery supply chain loop in North America. They collect batteries → recycle them → produce refined materials → sell those materials back to battery manufacturers (Panasonic, Toyota, Ford) who make new batteries.

They're building a massive facility in South Carolina and expanding their Nevada operations. Key partnerships with Panasonic (Tesla's battery supplier), Ford, Toyota, and Volkswagen give them committed supply and demand.

Government support is strong — the IRA (Inflation Reduction Act) incentivizes domestic battery material production.

Battery recycling volumes are still ramping. Most EV batteries haven't reached end of life yet — the average EV battery lasts 10-15 years.

Redwood currently processes mostly manufacturing scrap and consumer electronics batteries. The real flood of EV batteries won't arrive until the late 2020s and 2030s.

This creates a timing gap: Redwood has built expensive facilities for volume that doesn't fully exist yet. Competition from Li-Cycle, Ascend Elements, and Chinese recyclers is also intensifying.

Goldman Sachs, T. Rowe Price, Fidelity, Baillie Gifford, Amazon Climate Pledge Fund, Capricorn Investment Group, Breakthrough Energy Ventures (Bill Gates), Ford, Panasonic, Toyota