Redwood Materials announces South Carolina as home to next US battery campus
Battery recycling specialist Redwood Materials has announced its next expansion in the US, which includes a new battery materials campus in Charleston, South Carolina. As Redwood’s Easternmost facility in the US, it joins the “Battery Belt” corridor growing between Michigan and Georgia.
Redwood Materials is a company from Tesla cofounder JB Straubel that specializes in recycling, refining, and remanufacturing used battery materials in order to return them to US battery manufacturers to build new cells, particularly for EVs.
Redwood’s current footprint in Nevada is 100% electric and uses zero fossil fuels in its material recycling processes. It is there that the company is already repurposing precious battery materials to automakers in the US, like Tesla. Other clients include Nissan, Volvo, Ford, and most recently, Volkswagen Group, which announced a collaboration with Redwood this past summer.
In November, Redwood Materials shared it would supply high-nickel cathode material to Panasonic Energy at its upcoming battery manufacturing facility in De Soto, Kansas. With a new battery material campus coming to South Carolina, Redwood is significantly expanding its reach across the US, setting up shop much closer to the growing number of battery manufacturers establishing the nation’s “Battery Belt.”
Redwood to create 1,500 US jobs at South Carolina campus
The battery materials specialist shared details of its latest expansion in a press release today, sharing its intentions to invest $3.5 billion in the local Charleston community and provide over 1,500 new jobs.
The upcoming facility will sit along 600 acres of South Carolina land, where Redwood intends to recycle, refine, and manufacture anode and cathode components, localizing production of critical battery components to reduce costs and emissions to meet growing demand in the US.
South Carolina is a strategic choice in that it is currently home to over 500 different automakers but also sits in a prime location near Georgia, one geographical bookend of the aforementioned “Battery Belt.” Per the release:
A new manufacturing corridor from Michigan to Georgia is becoming known as America’s “Battery Belt” and is where hundreds of GWh a year of battery cell production capacity will be built and start operating between now and 2030. Yet, unless metals like lithium and nickel are produced and refined and remain in country for domestic anode and cathode manufacturing at scale, these American battery cell facilities will have to continually source the majority of their components, predominantly from Asia. This will send most (50-75%) of the economic value and job creation overseas.
When the new US battery material campus is complete and fully operational, Redwood expects it will produce 100 GWh of cathode and anode components per year. According to the company, that’s enough to power more than one million EVs. Better still, the large area of the South Carolina location will give Redwood Materials space to eventually expand to several hundred GWh per year, remaining in step with growing demand.
The company states that, like its Nevada campus, South Carolina operations will be 100% electric and doesn’t even plan to install a single gas line at the site. Per Redwood:
We will source only zero emission, clean energy and our innovative plant design and manufacturing process will allow us to reduce the CO2 emissions associated with producing these components by about 80% compared to the current Asia-based supply chain that we are dependent on for these crucial materials.
The company says it will break ground in Q1 of 2023 and expects to be operating its first recycling processes before the end of next year. You can view the official announcement from Redwood Materials as well as a glimpse into its US operations in the video below.
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Slate Auto, a new EV startup backed by Jeff Bezos, has poached a key Tesla manufacturing leader to build its electric pickup truck factory in Indiana.
Napoleon Reyes is a US Marine from Indiana who got a degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue after leaving the force.
He then worked a few years at Subaru and Wabash before joining Tesla’s manufacturing team at the Fremont Factory in 2020.
There, he became part of the Model Y production ramp and was quickly promoted to lead the Model Y General Assembly in Fremont in 2022.
Reyes led Model Y GA, one of the most critical parts of vehicle manufacturing, for more than a year before being promoted again to lead new pilot processes at the factory.
Most recently, he led the launch of the general assembly line for the Model Y refresh.
The new engineering manager announced this week that he is leaving Tesla to join Slate:
A bit late on the post but after nearly 5 years working at Tesla in Fremont, I made the difficult decision to leave the Company and move closer to home with my family. It was an incredible experience being part of multiple line expansions and multiple Model Y program launches. Leading and managing the Model Y Refresh launch for GA in Fremont this year tested me professionally however we ultimately succeeded due to our amazing cross functional team collaboration. It’s been an absolute pleasure working with such great people, and I will forever be proud and thankful for everything we accomplished together.
I will be taking on a new role as Senior Manager, Plant Vehicle Engineering at Slate Auto in Warsaw, In.
Slate emerged from stealth mode earlier this year to unveil a new type of electric pickup truck featuring modular customization and an affordable price.
The company raised over $700 million through two rounds of investments from several different investors, including Jeff Bezos. It is currently raising more, which basically guarantees that it will be able to reach production.
The startup acquired a former printing plant in Warsaw, Indiana. It is currently converting to manufacture its electric pickup with a team from legacy automakers and also several former engineers and leaders from Tesla.
Rich Schmidt, an early Tesla manufacturing director, is the head of manufacturing.
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Genesis is preparing to shake things up with its most luxurious SUV yet, the GV90. Thanks to a new patent filing, we are getting a detailed look at how its Rolls-Royce-style coach doors will work.
New patent reveals Genesis GV90 coach door system
When Genesis first unveiled the full-size SUV at the NY Auto Show last March, it wasn’t the stunning design or advanced tech that caught everyone’s attention. It was the coach doors.
Although we were worried it wouldn’t make it to the production model, like many concepts, the Genesis GV90 will be offered with coach doors.
The ultra-luxe electric SUV was first caught with coach doors earlier this year on a car carrier in South Korea. Just last month, the GV90 was spotted in California with a hinge at the rear to open the coach doors.
After several new patents were filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for new door latching devices, we are getting a sneak peek at how they are expected to work.
The patents, titled “Cinching Device For Door Latches in Vehicle,” and “Door Latch Device for Vehicles,” give a pretty detailed explanation of how the Genesis GV90’s coach doors will operate. The “Door Latch Device” uses a door striker on the lower side of the door, which is opened or closed by a hinge unit.
Unlike traditional doors, which use the B-pillar for support, the device is attached directly to the door itself, allowing for hinge-like movement.
The cinching device works in a similar way. It’s also attached to the door and part of the vehicle. However, unlike most of its kind, Genesis found a way to use a single cinching device to control multiple units. Again, the device is used for B-pillarless doors that swing open.
Genesis already said that B-pillarless coach doors are now feasible in production vehicles. The patent reveals a glimpse into how the luxury automaker could make it a reality.
Although the Genesis GV90 is expected to be offered with coach doors, they will likely not be standard. Other variants, with traditional door handles, have also been spotted testing in the US and South Korea.
Genesis is expected to launch the GV90 in mid-2026. It will be built at Hyundai’s Ulsan plant in South Korea. The flagship Genesis SUV is scheduled to debut on Hyundai’s new eM platform, which the company said will “provide 50% improvement in driving range.” It will also be loaded with the latest technology, software, connectivity, and Level 3 or higher autonomous driving capabilities.
Source: USPTO
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Environment
Podcast: Tesla Model YL, more Tesla probes and lawsuits, new Nissan Leaf pricing, and more
In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss the launch of the Tesla Model YL, more Tesla probes and lawsuits, new Nissan Leaf pricing, and more.
The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.
As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.
After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:
We now have a Patreon if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.
Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:
Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET:
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