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The clearest example is in Sparks, Nevada, where Redwood combines solar generation with approximately 63 MWh of repurposed EV-battery storage and can deliver 12 MW of AC power to Crusoe’s modular AI-compute infrastructure.
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What GM and Redwood agreed to
On July 16, 2025, GM and Redwood Materials announced a nonbinding memorandum of understanding to pursue stationary-energy-storage systems using two types of batteries:
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- New batteries manufactured by GM in the United States.
- Retired GM EV battery packs repurposed for a second life.
The agreement extended an existing relationship involving battery recycling and materials recovery. However, the original announcement did not disclose a contract value, final project list, commercial pricing, guaranteed volume, exact chemistries, or a binding delivery schedule. The announcement is therefore best understood as a framework for cooperation rather than a fully disclosed supply contract. GM’s announcement and Redwood’s announcement describe the intended relationship.
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The Nevada data-center project
The operating project is a Redwood–Crusoe deployment at Redwood’s Sparks/Tahoe campus in Nevada. Its initial configuration included:
| Component | Reported specification |
|---|---|
| Solar generation | Approximately 12 MW |
| Battery storage | Approximately 63 MWh of repurposed EV batteries |
| Data centers | Four Crusoe Spark modular AI data centers initially |
| Expansion | Planned growth to 24 modular units and approximately 20 MW of deployment capacity |
Redwood says the microgrid was designed, built, and commissioned in less than four months. In March 2026, Redwood and Crusoe announced an expansion from four to 24 modular data centers, with compute capacity increasing nearly sevenfold. They also reported 99.2% operational availability for the existing microgrid since launch.
That availability figure is a company-reported operational metric, not an independently audited reliability result or a data-center service-level agreement. The project details are available from Crusoe and in the 2026 expansion announcement.
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An EV battery can be retired from automotive service without being completely unusable. It may no longer meet the requirements for vehicle range, acceleration, packaging, warranty coverage, or rapid power delivery, yet still retain useful capacity for stationary applications.
Stationary storage is less constrained by weight and physical size. Batteries can be installed in a controlled location, operated under predictable conditions, and used for functions such as renewable-energy shifting, peak reduction, or backup power. A pack that is unsuitable for a car is therefore not necessarily “dead.” It may be reassigned before eventually entering the recycling process.
Not every pack is a candidate for reuse. Batteries that are damaged, unsafe, recalled, severely degraded, or too expensive to test and integrate may go directly to recycling.
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The lifecycle can be summarized as:
Vehicle service → second-life stationary storage → materials recycling
“Repurposed” or “second-life” is more precise than “recycled” for the batteries used in the Nevada deployment. Chemical recycling is the later step that recovers materials such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, and copper.
How the storage system works
The system follows a straightforward energy path:
- Assessment: Retired GM EV packs are screened for condition, remaining capacity, chemistry, and safety.
- Integration: Redwood connects compatible packs to its stationary-storage controls and Pack Manager system.
- Conversion: Inverters convert the batteries’ DC electricity into AC power for the site.
- Charging: Solar generation, and where configured grid power, charges the storage system.
- Dispatch: The batteries supply power when solar output falls, the site needs peak management, or backup support is required.
- Monitoring: Controls monitor individual battery sections and isolate equipment when necessary.
- Recycling: Packs eventually leave second-life service and return to the recycling stream.
Redwood describes its Pack Manager as a universal integration layer capable of combining different EV battery packs. That is a Redwood product description, and real-world performance can vary with pack chemistry, age, state of health, thermal history, and control requirements.
What each company contributes
GM
GM’s role extends beyond supplying old batteries. It can include:
- Providing retired GM EV packs.
- Supplying new U.S.-manufactured GM battery cells or modules.
- Contributing battery-development and manufacturing expertise.
- Supporting battery recycling and manufacturing-scrap recovery.
In June 2026, GM said its relationship with Redwood covered the full battery lifecycle and that roughly 10,000 GM batteries were being deployed in energy infrastructure, including the Crusoe site. GM’s wording should be preserved because the public material does not clarify whether “batteries” means packs, modules, or another unit.
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Redwood Materials
Redwood is acting as an energy-system developer and integrator, not merely as a recycler. Redwood Energy says it provides battery-energy-storage-system design, battery-pack integration, DC and AC blocks, energy-management systems, commissioning, turnkey engineering and construction, operations, and maintenance.
That makes Redwood responsible for turning batteries with different histories and characteristics into a functioning stationary system.
Crusoe
Crusoe supplies and operates the computing infrastructure. Its Spark platform consists of prefabricated modular AI data-center units designed for rapid deployment. At Sparks, those units use the Redwood microgrid’s solar generation and battery storage, with grid power identified as backup in the expanded configuration.
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No. A battery-storage microgrid is a flexible power layer, not automatically a complete replacement for grid service or firm generation.
It can perform several different functions:
- Energy shifting: Store solar or grid electricity and release it later.
- Peak shaving: Reduce the site’s grid demand when electricity or connection capacity is constrained.
- Backup power: Support critical loads during an outage, depending on system configuration and available energy.
- Behind-the-meter generation: Supply power close to the data center without relying entirely on a new transmission connection.
- Partial off-grid operation: Support certain modular deployments without implying universal grid independence.
A simple calculation illustrates the difference between power and energy: 63 MWh divided by 12 MW equals about 5.25 hours of output at a constant 12 MW. That is only a theoretical estimate. Reserve margins, inverter losses, battery degradation, operating limits, and the actual site load would reduce or change the usable duration.
Why AI data centers are interested
AI computing requires substantial, continuous electricity. Conventional grid connections can take years when transmission upgrades, distribution equipment, transformers, permitting, and interconnection studies are required.
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A modular data center paired with local generation and storage can allow an operator to deploy computing capacity while reducing its immediate dependence on a large new grid connection. Batteries can smooth solar output, reduce short-duration interruptions, and limit the site’s peak draw.
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Redwood says the Sparks project’s energy cost is below the grid and describes its system as low-cost. Those are company claims, not a public, independent comparison with new lithium-iron-phosphate or other stationary-storage systems. Project economics are not disclosed.
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Large battery systems introduce fire, thermal-runaway, electrical, and control-system risks. Redwood says its architecture uses electrical isolation between battery stalls and passive safety features. It also says its systems completed large-scale testing under the sixth edition of UL 9540A.
UL 9540A testing evaluates fire and thermal-runaway behavior; it should not be treated by itself as proof of complete product certification, local approval, or permission to operate. Redwood also says UL 1973 does not yet provide a compliance pathway specifically for repurposed automotive packs.
In practice, testing, product listing, insurance requirements, interconnection approval, and local fire-code permitting are separate issues. Those requirements can make second-life systems more complicated than standardized new-battery products.
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The advantages and limitations of second-life EV storage
Where it may make sense
- The project needs storage faster than a conventional grid upgrade can be delivered.
- The operator has access to a large supply of compatible retired packs.
- The site benefits from solar shifting or peak-demand reduction.
- The owner can support a custom-engineered system.
- Lower potential battery costs justify more involved testing and integration.
Where new batteries may be preferable
- The buyer needs standardized warranties and predictable degradation.
- Uniform chemistry and pack design simplify controls and maintenance.
- The project has strict permitting, space, or thermal requirements.
- High cycling rates or a long guaranteed service life are essential.
- Financiers and insurers prefer a mature, standardized product ecosystem.
The main technical risks include uneven state of health, incomplete battery histories, chemistry and voltage differences, capacity fade, pack replacement, fire management, cybersecurity, and the availability of compatible replacement batteries. Commercial risks include uncertain warranty terms, testing costs, insurance, and the possibility that new stationary batteries become inexpensive enough to reduce the appeal of used packs.
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What the project proves—and what it does not
The Sparks deployment demonstrates that retired EV batteries can be integrated into a working microgrid supporting modular AI data centers. The reported construction speed, operating availability, and planned expansion are meaningful evidence that the model can work at one controlled site.
It does not yet prove that every retired EV battery can be profitably repurposed, that second-life storage is cheaper than new battery systems in all markets, or that a heterogeneous battery fleet can satisfy every hyperscale data center’s uptime and warranty requirements.
The Sparks campus also has unusual advantages: Redwood’s batteries are colocated with Redwood’s operations, the system was designed around a specific customer, and the microgrid combines modular computing with local solar. A remote hyperscale facility with different fire-code, interconnection, power-quality, and service requirements may produce different results.
Bottom line
The GM–Redwood partnership is real, and batteries associated with GM are being deployed in energy infrastructure that supports Crusoe AI data centers. But the accurate chain is GM battery supply and expertise → Redwood Energy storage integration → Crusoe modular data-center operations.
The project is a credible demonstration of giving retired EV batteries a second life before recycling. It is not proof that GM has become a conventional data-center operator, that the system replaces the grid, or that repurposed batteries are universally cheaper or more reliable than new stationary-storage systems.
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