Climate and Clean Tech | February 16, 2023

Redwood Materials arranges $2 billion Energy Department loan for EV battery facility

David Bank
ImpactAlpha Editor

David Bank

ImpactAlpha, February 16 — Redwood Materials has arranged a $2 billion Energy Department Loan for an EV battery plant in McCarran, Nev. that will make cathode material and copper foil for batteries for electric vehicles. The conditional loan from the DOE’s Loan Programs Office will also help Redwood scale up recycling of materials for use in lithium-ion batteries.

Currently, Asian companies supply most of the anode and cathode production for U.S. battery makers.

Lithium security

Separately, the DOE’s Li-Bridge alliance released more than two dozen recommendations for building a domestic lithium supply chain in the U.S.  “We have dozens of start-ups with American-made solutions ready to build an electric future here and abroad with better batteries,” said Danny Kennedy of New Energy Nexus, a partner in the alliance.

The report says the U.S. could double annual lithium battery revenues to $33 billion by 2030, supplying about 60% of domestic demand and creating 100,000 jobs.