Redwood Materials cuts 10% of staff and loses COO

Redwood Materials, the battery recycling company, is undergoing a restructuring that includes a workforce reduction of around 10%, which translates to roughly 135 employees. Alongside the layoffs, the company confirmed to TechCrunch on Thursday that its chief operating officer, Chris Lister, is retiring. Lister, who previously managed operations at Tesla’s manufacturing facility in Nevada (known as the Gigafactory), joined Redwood in late 2023 as chief supply chain officer before being promoted to chief operating officer in 2024. The promotion placed him closer in the organizational structure to founder and CEO JB Straubel, who was Tesla’s longtime chief technology officer and currently sits on the automaker’s board. A company spokesperson confirmed Lister’s departure and expressed well wishes for his retirement.

The restructuring was announced to employees earlier this week in an email from Straubel. In the message, the CEO explained that the reorganization is designed to support Redwood’s energy storage business. The company recently secured partnerships to provide refurbished batteries for grid storage with automaker Rivian and artificial intelligence firm Crusoe. Straubel noted that parts of the company had expanded faster than needed, but expressed confidence that Redwood can deliver on its projects with a smaller, more focused team. According to Straubel, the company is building the most integrated and cost-effective critical materials and energy storage business in the world. He wrote to staff, “We have successfully adapted to changes in the market that have bankrupted many of our competitors.”

Lister is not the only executive to leave the company recently. Several other executives have departed Redwood in recent months. Bradley Mayhew, the former vice president of integrated supply chain, left the company earlier this month. Guillermo Urquiza, the former vice president of mechanical engineering, departed in March. Both Mayhew and Urquiza are former Tesla employees. Additionally, Carlos Lozano, the former vice president of manufacturing, left earlier this year to take a leadership role at Panasonic. Redwood declined to comment specifically on these departures, but pointed to Straubel’s email, which noted an effort to reduce layers of management across the organization.

Why it matters

Redwood Materials is attempting to streamline its operations and reduce management layers to focus on its core energy storage business amid a challenging market environment. The executive departures and workforce reduction highlight the pressure on battery technology firms to maintain capital efficiency as they scale.