Redwood Materials joins electric vehicle, battery trek to South Carolina

Proterra

14/12/2022 15:00

By Paul Lienert
       Dec 14 (Reuters) - Redwood Materials is the latest
company to set up shop in South Carolina's growing community of
electric vehicle and battery manufacturers, the Carson City,
Nevada-based firm said on Wednesday.
    Redwood said it will build a $3.5 billion battery materials
campus in Ridgefield, about 30 miles (48.28 km) northwest of
Charleston, that will recycle, refine and remanufacture cathode
and anode materials such as nickel, cobalt, lithium and copper.
    Anode and cathode components, which make up most of an EV
battery's cost, are not yet produced in North America. 
    But several companies have announced plans to make those
components in North America by mid-decade, to take advantage of
incentives built into the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act. The IRS
aims to reduce imports of batteries and materials from China,
which controls the flow of refined minerals such as nickel and
cobalt.
    The Ridgefield facility aims to begin recycling late next
year and ramp up component manufacturing capacity to 100
gigawatt-hours by 2025 — enough to supply battery materials for
more than a million electric vehicles, the company said.
    The Redwood Materials campus, which is located near the U.S.
assembly plant for Volvo  0175.HK  and Polestar electric
vehicles, has the capacity to expand to 400 GWh, which would
require several billion dollars of additional investment, a
company official said.
    The Ridgefield facility is expected to supply battery
materials to Ford Motor  F.N  and SK On in Kentucky, Toyota
Motor  7203.T  in North Carolina and Volvo and Envision AESC in
South Carolina.
    South Carolina already is home to vehicle manufacturers BMW
 BMWG.DE  in Greer, Mercedes-Benz Vans in North Charleston,
Arrival  47K.F  in Rock Hill and Proterra  PTRA.O  in Greenville
and Greer. 
    Volvo is building a battery plant next to its assembly
facility in Ridgeville and BMW is partnering with Envision AESC
on a $700 million battery plant in Woodruff.
    A second North American “battery belt” is springing up in
Canada, in Becancour, Quebec, on the St. Lawrence River. 
    Among the companies planning or considering investments in
battery material refining and manufacturing facilities there are
General Motors  GM.N , Ford and Volkswagen  VOWG_p.DE , as well
as suppliers SK, BASF  BASFn.DE  and Posco Chemical  003670.KS 
and mining/refining companies Umicore  UMI.BR  and Nouveau Monde
 NOU.V .
 (Reporting by Paul Lienert in Detroit; Editing by Josie Kao)
 ((Paul.Lienert@thomsonreuters.com; mobile +1 313-670-2452;))