General Motors has become the first automaker to partner with Redwood Materials across the entire battery lifecycle, adding second-life energy storage to existing scrap recovery and recycling operations. The new initiative involves a 1.5 MW / 7.2 MWh storage system built from roughly 100 repurposed GM battery packs.
The system will be installed at a GM manufacturing plant in Michigan, where Redwood estimates it will save the factory more than $3 million in electricity costs over its operational lifetime. This marks a significant step in commercializing retired electric vehicle batteries for stationary storage applications.
The expansion deepens a relationship that already covered manufacturing scrap recovery and end-of-life battery recycling. Redwood Materials, founded by former Tesla CTO JB Straubel, processes battery materials to recover critical minerals like lithium, cobalt, and nickel for reuse in new batteries.
For GM, the partnership supports its goal of a closed-loop battery supply chain as it ramps EV production. The company has committed to eliminating tailpipe emissions from its light-duty vehicles by 2035, making battery material efficiency a strategic priority.
Critics point out that second-life battery systems face technical challenges in performance matching and lifespan prediction, and that the $3 million savings figure depends on favorable electricity pricing assumptions. Without independent verification, the long-term economics of repurposed battery storage remain uncertain.