JB Straubel was among the group of co-founders of Tesla, and in his more than 10 years with Tesla invented or co-created a number of the company’s key technologies related to electric vehicle (EV) batteries.
When he left the automaker last year he started up his own company, Redwood Materials, which focuses on recycling EV batteries and the elements inside of them.
As part of its $2 billion Climate Pledge Fund, Amazon has announced a major investment in Redwood Materials, along with several other environmentally friendly tech companies, including Rivian. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
“Amazon’s investment is significant because of its size and its commitment to have a more sustainable footprint,” Straubel told CNBC. “The company has batteries in so many places within the company, from Amazon Web Services to consumer electronics to its growing electric logistics fleet.”
As part of the deal, Redwood will work with Amazon to recycle EV batteries, lithium-ion batteries, and various other forms of e-waste that come from various operations with Amazon.
This isn’t the first big investment in Redwood. Earlier this year it received $40 million from a variety of investors lead by Capricorn Investment Group and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which includes both Jeff Bezos and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.
