Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN) and Redwood Materials announced a partnership to deploy a battery energy storage system at Rivian's Normal, Illinois manufacturing facility. The system will use more than 100 second-life Rivian battery packs to provide 10 megawatt-hours of dispatchable energy.

The energy storage system aims to reduce costs and grid load during peak demand periods. Rivian will provide electric vehicle battery packs to Redwood Materials, which will integrate them into a Redwood Energy system using the company's Redwood Pack Manager technology. The stored energy will be used on-site by Rivian's manufacturing plant.

According to the companies' press release, the system is designed to be rapidly scalable and offers cost benefits by using electric vehicle batteries. The approach enables deployment of energy capacity directly at manufacturing facilities with high demand.

"EVs represent a massive, distributed and highly competitive energy resource," said Rivian Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe. "As energy needs grow, our grid needs to be flexible, secure, and affordable. Our partnership with Redwood enables us to utilize our vehicle's batteries beyond the life of a vehicle and contribute to grid health and American competitiveness."

JB Straubel, Redwood Materials Founder and CEO, stated that "electricity demand is accelerating faster than the grid can expand, posing a constraint on industrial growth." He noted that the partnership demonstrates how electric vehicle battery packs can become dispatchable energy resources.

The companies stated that electric vehicle batteries are designed to last hundreds of thousands of miles and often remain functional when vehicles are retired, making them suitable for stationary energy storage applications. During peak demand periods, Rivian can deploy energy from second-life batteries to reduce strain on the grid and avoid purchasing electricity at higher costs.

The partnership represents what the companies describe as the largest repurposed battery energy storage system for a U.S. automotive manufacturer.