Why would a automobile firm be concerned in supplying vitality for the AI revolution?
That is precisely what’s taking place with Common Motors, one of many largest carmakers within the US.
In a transfer that blurs the traces between automaking and vitality infrastructure, GM is getting into the facility enterprise by means of a brand new settlement with Redwood Supplies, a startup run by Tesla cofounder JB Straubel.
When GM electrical automobile batteries come to the tip of their helpful lives in vehicles, the corporate provides them a second life by means of a recycling cope with Redwood. The settlement contains new US-manufactured batteries from GM and second-life battery packs from GM electrical automobiles.
These batteries will provide vitality to AI information facilities, GM and Redwood introduced on Wednesday.
“The marketplace for grid-scale batteries and backup energy is not simply increasing; it is turning into important infrastructure,” stated Kurt Kelty, vp of battery, propulsion, and sustainability at GM. “Electrical energy demand is climbing, and it is solely going to speed up. To fulfill that problem, the US wants vitality storage options that may be deployed rapidly, economically, and made proper right here at house. GM batteries can play an integral position.”
The joint effort, introduced simply weeks after Redwood launched its new vitality storage arm, Redwood Vitality, is already bearing fruit.
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GM EV batteries are serving to energy a brand new Redwood microgrid in Nevada, the most important second-life battery set up on the planet, in response to the startup. That system helps Crusoe, an organization constructing AI information facilities that demand large, always-on energy.
As AI information facilities push electrical energy demand to new highs, the necessity for grid-scale vitality storage has change into pressing. What’s shocking is how auto batteries, initially designed to maneuver vehicles, are actually being tapped to stabilize the electrical grid and allow the subsequent wave of computing.
This collaboration additionally underscores a bigger industrial development: turning retired belongings into strategic assets as international provide chains change into burdened by geopolitical tensions and the specter of tariffs.
“Each GM’s second-life EV batteries and new batteries may be deployed in Redwood’s vitality storage methods, delivering quick, versatile energy options and strengthening America’s vitality and manufacturing independence,” Straubel stated in an announcement.
Extra particulars are anticipated later this 12 months, although one factor is already clear: the highway from EVs to AI runs by means of energy storage, and GM needs to be within the driver’s seat.
