Redwood Materials expects to draw down the first loan tranche later this year, Chief Executive JB Straubel said in an interview. The IRA rules are designed to shift the U.S. battery supply chain away from China, which currently produces 70% of batteries for electric vehicles. EXPANSION PLANSRedwood Materials, founded in 2017 by ex-Tesla executive Straubel, is on a path to become one of the world’s largest recyclers and re-manufacturers of battery materials, including copper, lithium, cobalt and nickel. Redwood Materials said it will supply copper foil from Nevada to Panasonic (6752.T) for battery cells produced at the Nevada Gigafactory that Panasonic jointly operates with Tesla. Redwood Materials has supply agreements with a number of manufacturers, including Ford, Toyota Motor (7203.T) and Volkswagen Group (VOWG_p.DE).

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