Rivian and energy technology company Redwood Materials announced an expansion of their partnership that establishes Redwood as one of Rivian's key partners to enabling end-to-end energy solutions. This includes recycling Rivian’s production scrap and end-of-life EV batteries, as well as providing stationary battery storage at the EV maker's manufacturing plant in Normal, Illinois.
Through the partnership, Redwood collects Rivian EV battery packs through the automaker's nationwide network of service centers when they are no longer suitable for in-vehicle use. Redwood then evaluates each battery pack to determine whether to repurpose it for energy storage, deployed directly at Rivian's manufacturing facilities or at other locations, or to recycle it. Redwood will now also recycle battery scrap generated at Rivian's manufacturing operations.
This new scope of the partnership builds on the existing work, announced in April 2026, that is deploying 10 megawatt-hours (MWh) of battery energy storage from repurposed Rivian battery packs at its manufacturing plant in Illinois.
"Every Rivian battery pack that comes back to us is a potential source of domestic grid energy storage in addition to critical materials," Redwood Materials Founder and CEO JB Straubel said. "Redwood’s unique ability to integrate and redeploy Rivian batteries with our technology is an opportunity to enable fast, flexible and more cost-efficient energy storage. As the demand and cost for energy keeps rising, working with companies like Rivian is how we help meet these challenges.”
When EV batteries reach the end of their useful lives in vehicles, they often still have substantial useful energy capacity for second-life applications, such as stationary storage. Energy storage applications with repurposed batteries can ease stress on the grid during periods of high electricity demand, improving grid reliability while reducing energy costs for the user, as well as the grid at large. During periods of low demand or when low-cost renewable energy is most productive, these packs can store electricity for easy dispatch during periods of higher demand.
Once batteries are no longer useful in energy storage applications, or where scrap is generated during manufacturing, they can be recycled. Redwood's process is capable of recycling and recovering critical minerals like lithium, nickel, cobalt and copper at rates exceeding 95%.
