Redwood Materials recently announced the appointment of Tesla's VP of powertrain engineering, Colin Campbell, to be their new Chief Technology Officer. Colin Campbell's announcement of the move was made Monday on LinkedIn. Redwood Materials is based in Carson City, Nevada, and was founded in 2017 by Straubel during his tenure as Tesla's CTO.
J.B. Straubel, who is a board member of Tesla and also the founder of battery-recycling startup Redwood Materials, has recently appointed Colin Campbell, Tesla's former Vice President of Powertrain Engineering, to serve as Chief Technology Officer. Straubel established Redwood in 2017 while still acting as Tesla's CTO. Campbell posted the news on LinkedIn Monday, saying goodbye to the colleagues he had encountered in his 17-year journey in Tesla. He praised the "once-in-a-lifetime experience" that Tesla provided him with and added that he will continue working in the field of electrification at Redwood, though this time, he plans to focus on addressing problems at an earlier stage to facilitate the wide acceptance of EVs and clean energy. According to Campbell, Redwood's mission involves creating a circular battery supply chain within the US, while using recycled content for the manufacture of essential battery components. Recycled electric vehicle batteries and scrap from car factories are used by Redwood as raw materials. Moreover, he informed that the startup also includes “sustainably mined material” in its process. Shortly before Campbell's leave, Tesla's Finance Chief, Zach Kirkhorn, resigned and was replaced by Vaibhav Taneja, who is currently holding the dual role of CFO and accounting head, as per Tesla's shareholder disclosure. Redwood has been the home of many former Tesla employees, including Kevin Kassekert, who used to occupy the position of Vice President of People and Places at Tesla. LinkedIn data reveals a staff of more than 120 who made the same transition. Straubel, one of the creators of Tesla, was recently voted as an independent director on the company's board by the shareholders. Tesla declined to comment when CNBC reached out to them. Currently, the primary utilization of U.S.-sourced EV batteries is still many years away.
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