SEATTLE (Recycling Monster): The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded a loan amounting to $2 billion to Carson City, Nevada-headquartered Redwood Materials. The funding will be used by the company to build and expand its battery recycling facility outside of Reno, Nevada, which recycles batteries for electric vehicles.

The conditional loan is from the Energy Department's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program. It will support the construction and expansion of a battery materials campus in McCarren, Nevada. The facility would process end-of-life battery and production scrap and remanufacture that into critical materials, which are then used in the manufacture of new EV batteries.

According to a post by the Energy Department, Redwood Materials is expected to generate approximately 3,400 construction jobs and provide nearly 1,600 full-time, once the facility becomes fully operational.  The company already has a pilot line running in Nevada facility already. Rapid expansion of battery recycling capabilities is essential to meet the needs of growing EV market in the U.S., it noted.

It must be noted that the company already has entered into supply contracts with leading companies including Ford and Panasonic.