Old EV Batteries Find New Power in the Grid

Redwood Materials turns used EV cells into grid storage, linking recycling, clean power and AI

31 Oct 2025

A growing effort to give electric-vehicle batteries a second life is reshaping America’s clean-energy story. In Nevada, Redwood Materials has turned thousands of retired EV battery packs into a 12 megawatt, 63 megawatt-hour storage system at its Sparks campus, one of the country’s boldest attempts to reuse high-tech waste.

The project coincides with a US$350 million funding round led by Eclipse Ventures and NVentures. It signals how battery recycling, once an afterthought in the energy transition, is fast becoming one of its liveliest frontiers. The new system powers data centres running artificial-intelligence models, storing and releasing electricity on demand. Though no longer fit for the road, the batteries retain about half their original capacity, ample for stationary use.

By redeploying them, Redwood hopes to bridge the widening gap between intermittent renewable power and the surging energy needs of technology and manufacturing firms. “We’re watching the EV lifecycle evolve from a straight line into a full circle,” says a researcher at BloombergNEF. Reuse, the analyst adds, stretches battery life, reduces waste and limits dependence on imported minerals.

The firm’s approach aligns neatly with Washington’s ambition to secure a domestic supply chain for critical materials such as lithium and nickel. It also offers a rare case where profitability and sustainability appear to pull in the same direction. Investors are paying attention.

Yet obstacles remain. Each carmaker builds its batteries differently, complicating efforts to standardise testing and reuse. Long-term reliability data are still thin, making financiers cautious. Analysts say that commercial models for second-life systems will take years to mature, as operators collect more evidence of performance and safety.

Still, Redwood’s example is hard to ignore. It shows that reusing rather than recycling can yield immediate economic and environmental gains. With the first wave of EV batteries reaching retirement age, other companies are likely to follow. By the end of the decade, second-life units could supply a meaningful share of America’s grid-storage capacity.

For a country trying to build a cleaner and more resilient power system, this new collaboration between automakers, recyclers and technology firms offers something rare in the energy world: a virtuous circle powered by yesterday’s batteries.