- Rivian struck a take care of Redwood Supplies, the battery-recycling startup, to make use of second-life packs at its manufacturing facility.
- The set up at Rivian’s Regular, Illinois, plant will use greater than 100 recycled Rivian battery packs.
- It should initially present 10 megawatt-hours of power storage.
In one thing of a full-circle second, Rivian’s manufacturing facility in Illinois will quickly be powered by outdated Rivian battery packs.
On Tuesday, the EV startup introduced a take care of the battery-recycling agency Redwood Supplies that can end in an preliminary 10 megawatt-hours of stationary power storage at its plant. Rivian will present Redwood with greater than 100 second-life battery packs. Redwood will flip these right into a stationary storage set up that may assist cut back Rivian’s power prices throughout occasions of peak demand, the businesses stated in a press launch.
“EVs signify an enormous, distributed and extremely aggressive power useful resource,” Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe stated in a press release. “As power wants develop, our grid must be versatile, safe, and reasonably priced. Our partnership with Redwood permits us to make the most of our car’s batteries past the lifetime of a car and contribute to grid well being and American competitiveness.”
Research have proven that EV batteries do not truly degrade all that shortly. However even an EV battery with half or three-quarters of its unique capability will be precious for stationary storage. It might not have sufficient vary to be used in a automobile, but it surely additionally could have sufficient juice left that it would not have to be damaged down and recycled but. For this precise purpose, Redwood launched its Redwood Vitality enterprise final June.
“As extra batteries attain end-of-life, we’re discovering that many nonetheless retain greater than 50% of their usable capability—sufficient to be put again to work earlier than recycling,” the corporate stated on the time. “Redwood Vitality is our answer: a platform to repurpose these battery packs into low-cost, large-scale power storage methods that fill a vital hole in immediately’s energy panorama, whereas maximizing their worth between restoration and recycling.”
The Rivian deal comes because the EV and battery storage worlds converge in new methods. Automakers have pulled again their electric-car manufacturing plans, creating extra capability for batteries. Automobile producers and battery makers are directing the additional provide towards stationary storage methods, that are in excessive demand because of the rise of power-hungry AI knowledge facilities.
Final summer time, Redwood struck a take care of Basic Motors to supply each new and second-life battery packs for its new power enterprise. In December, Ford introduced a brand new stationary power storage unit that may “leverage at the moment underutilized electrical car battery capability” beginning in 2027. Its Kentucky battery manufacturing facility will make prismatic lithium iron phosphate cells and package deal them into 20-foot containers.
Contact the writer: Tim.Levin@InsideEVs.com
