Photo by Sean O’Kane / The Verge
Ford has tapped startup Redwood Materials — run by former Tesla chief technology officer JB Straubel — to handle the recycling of its electric vehicle batteries. The two companies also plan to use this new partnership to help build out the battery supply chain in the United States, which is something that the Biden administration has stressed as a goal.
As part of the deal, Ford is investing $50 million into Redwood Materials, which Straubel said is part of the startup’s recently announced $700 million funding round.
This is not the first customer Redwood Materials has lined up — Straubel’s startup already recycles batteries from Nissan, Specialized (which has an increasing number of e-bike batteries), and scrap from Tesla and Panasonic…
