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Batteries

General Motors and Redwood Materials Collaborate on Energy Storage Solutions

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

General Motors (GM) and Redwood Materials have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to accelerate the deployment of energy storage systems using U.S.-manufactured batteries from GM and second-life battery packs from GM electric vehicles. The collaboration aims to provide a domestic solution for energy storage, leveraging GM's advanced battery technology beyond electric vehicles. The market for grid-scale batteries and backup power is expanding, driven by increasing electricity demand, particularly from AI data centers.

Key Takeaways:

  • GM and Redwood Materials will work together to deploy energy storage systems using new U.S.-manufactured batteries from GM and second-life battery packs from GM electric vehicles.
  • The partnership aims to provide a domestic solution for energy storage, leveraging GM's advanced battery technology beyond electric vehicles.
  • The market for grid-scale batteries and backup power is expanding, driven by increasing electricity demand, particularly from AI data centers.
  • GM's second-life electric vehicle batteries are being repurposed to help power the largest microgrid in North America at Redwood's 12MW/63MWh installation in Sparks, Nevada.
  • Redwood Energy, a new business launched by Redwood Materials, deploys used EV packs and new modules into fast, low-cost energy-storage systems to meet surging power demand from AI data centers and other applications.
  • The collaboration marks a significant step toward taking GM's advanced battery technology beyond EVs and builds on GM and Redwood's existing collaboration.

Statistics:

  • U.S. electricity demand is expected to grow, driven in part by AI data centers that are on track to triple their share of national electricity usage from 4.4% in 2023 to 12% by 2028.
  • The AI data center market is expected to require significant amounts of energy storage to support their operations.
  • GM and Redwood Materials expect to announce more details on their plans later in 2025.

Sources:

  • General Motors ([https://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/news.detail.html?ID=uscom-11915](https://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/news.detail.html?ID=uscom-11915))
  • General Motors and Redwood Materials Sign Memorandum of Understanding to Accelerate Energy Storage Solutions (July 16, 2023)

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