Redwood Materials plans to expand local recycling facility, creating largest building in Carson City
Carson City’s Redwood Materials, Inc. has been making headlines, from its expansion into the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center to create a massive recycling plant, to partnering with Ford Motor Co. which invested $50 million into the company to create a closed loop for battery recycling.
They may make a new record in the capital city: one for the largest building constructed.
In partnering with Ford, as well as taking on $700 million in external investment funds, Redwood Materials is continuing to grow, both in the capital city as well as the TRIC.
In April, Redwood Materials Inc. was one of nine Nevada companies to receive abatements for job creation, and in June the company announced its expansion into the TRIC, where Redwood Material’s CEO JB Straubel previously worked as a co-founder of Tesla.
They broke ground on the plant soon after, which spans over 100 acres with close proximity to its major customers, Tesla and Panasonic.
Now, the company is setting their sites on expanding their Carson City plant as well, which is currently at 150,000 square feet.
However, they are planning to expand up to 550,000 square feet, which would make the Redwood Materials, Inc. building the largest in Carson City.
For reference, the average size of a Walmart Supercenter is 180,000 square feet, meaning three Walmart Supercenters could fit inside the proposed plant.
However, according to the Carson City Building and Planning Division, there is no current building permit active for the company, so a timeline of when the new facility may be built is unknown.
Redwood Materials hopes to create closed systems when it comes to supplying and recycling lithium batteries, as well as important material components for reusable batteries such as anode copper foil and cathode.
“We plan to transform the lithium-ion battery supply chain by offering large-scale sources of these domestic materials produced from as many recycled batteries as available and augmented with sustainably mined material,” said the company in a recent press release. “Quickly ramping up a domestic battery materials supply chain and using the highest possible percent of local, recycled raw materials is the best way we can meet the US’s 2030 electrification goals.”
With more closed-loop relationships between Redwood Materials and major car companies such as Tesla and Ford, Redwood Materials could continue to grow as the need to produce batteries for electric vehicles continues to grow as well.