Amazon, the world’s largest e-commerce company, has decided to invest in a startup dedicated to recycling batteries for electric cars, Redwood Materials, founded by a former Tesla executive, JB Straubel. This strategic investment is part of Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund and will allow you to access a sector with a huge future projection.
“Amazon’s investment is significant for its size and for its commitment to having a more sustainable carbon footprint. The company has batteries in many of its sectors, from Amazon Web Services to consumer electronics and its growing fleet of electrical logistics,” said Straubel during an interview with CNBC.
“When you look at the future of transportation and vehicle electrification, [you can see that] the number of batteries that will be needed will be staggering. We are already recovering most of the metal, lithium, nickel, and cobalt from the batteries we recycle. Now we have to do it more efficiently and on a much larger scale.”
Redwood Materials will work closely with Amazon to recycle electric vehicle batteries and lithium-ion batteries in general. The startup currently has a battery recycling center in Carson City, Nevada, close to Giga Nevada, the huge battery plant is jointly operated by Tesla and Panasonic.
Straubel became interested in the battery recycling industry after spending more than a decade working with Elon Musk to build Tesla, the current world leader in the production of electric cars. While serving as the company’s chief technical officer, Straubel assisted in designing the electric powertrains used in its vehicles.
This association is one more step within Amazon’s climate commitment, which among other things, has partnerships with Mercedes-Benz and Rivian (in fact, it is a shareholder of the latter) for the supply of electric delivery vans. Also, the North American giant has also committed to operating with 100% renewable energy by 2025.