How GM Turned Used EV Batteries Into AI Fuel

General Motors has sent roughly 10,000 repurposed EV batteries into a Nevada AI data center through a three-way partnership

16 Jun 2026

General Motors has channelled approximately 10,000 retired electric vehicle batteries into an operational AI data centre in Sparks, Nevada, the company announced on 10 June 2026. The batteries, processed by recycling specialist Redwood Materials, now supply power to Crusoe Energy's facility, extending the working life of cells that would otherwise reach end-of-life disposal.

The arrangement addresses a growing tension in the data centre industry. Operators running AI workloads face rising energy costs and increasing pressure to reduce their carbon footprint. Repurposed automotive batteries offer both a cost advantage and a cleaner supply source. For GM, assets that once represented a disposal liability now generate revenue.

Redwood Materials is central to making the programme work. The company evaluates, sorts, and prepares retired GM cells before deployment, ensuring they meet commercial energy storage standards. That technical screening is what allows a project of this scale to move from concept to live operation.

Second-life battery storage has been discussed for years as a logical extension of the EV transition. The Sparks facility is among the first to demonstrate it at meaningful scale, giving all three partners a working environment to refine processes before expanding to other sites.

As EV adoption grows, the volume of retired packs will rise steadily. Data centre operators and automakers alike are watching whether this model holds at larger deployments, and whether the economics remain favourable as the supply of second-life cells increases.