General Motors has produced 12 metric tons of cathode active material (CAM) entirely from nickel, cobalt and manganese recovered through a closed-loop recycling pilot run with Cirba Solutions on 80 retired GM EV battery packs. The CAM, refined at Cirba's lithium-ion recycling facility in Ohio, now sits inside cells powering production Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC electric vehicles.

What did the pilot actually process?

Cirba Solutions disassembled the 80 end-of-life packs and processed them into black mass, a concentrated intermediate product containing the battery's valuable metals. Refining partners then converted that black mass into the 12 tonnes of CAM, with every kilogram of nickel, cobalt and manganese drawn from recycled feedstock, according to the program participants.

The validation step matters as much as the recovery step. Ultium Cells, GM's battery joint venture with LG Energy Solution, tested the recycled CAM against cell safety, performance and quality specifications before running it through production. GM manufacturing teams built the resulting cells into modules and packs at Factory ZERO and Spring Hill.

Which vehicles now carry the recycled material?

Seven nameplates currently ship with battery cells built from the recycled CAM:

• Cadillac LYRIQ
• Cadillac LYRIQ-V
• Cadillac VISTIQ
• Cadillac ESCALADE IQ
• Cadillac ESCALADE IQL
• Chevrolet Silverado EV Trail Boss
• GMC Sierra EV AT4

Spring Hill Assembly and Factory ZERO build the vehicles. Both plants have started shipping units carrying the closed-loop cells to customers.

Where does the project sit in GM's broader battery strategy?

Closed-loop recycling is one of three tracks in GM's battery lifecycle program. The automaker is also pursuing remanufacturing aimed at reusing more than 70% of pack components in targeted applications, and second-life deployment of retired packs in stationary storage systems.

GM and Redwood Materials are moving approximately 10,000 second-life GM batteries into energy infrastructure projects. The portfolio includes what GM describes as the largest second-life battery microgrid in North America, with additional deployments in the pipeline.

Together, the three tracks form a tiered hierarchy: vehicle duty first, stationary storage second, materials recovery last. Each stage extends the economic life of the cell before its metals return to refining.

How does this connect to feedstock supply?

Battery materials represent a significant share of cell cost and supply chain exposure for any automaker scaling EV output. Recovering nickel, cobalt and manganese at high rates from retired packs can reduce dependence on newly mined feedstock, shorten material transport routes and create a domestic source of critical minerals for U.S. cell production.

Industry projections cited in the pilot announcement point to millions of EV batteries reaching end-of-vehicle life by 2040, even as global lithium-ion demand continues to climb. Building recycling, refining and cell manufacturing capacity now positions automakers to absorb that wave without triggering new mining pressure.

What happens next?

The pilot remains an early demonstration rather than a scaled production line. Milestones to watch: GM's transition from pilot-scale CAM output to commercial volumes; the resolution of validation protocols that currently gate every batch of recycled material; and the build-out of additional second-life storage projects beyond the Redwood partnership.

Regulatory and incentive frameworks — including U.S. Inflation Reduction Act sourcing credits and forthcoming EU battery passport requirements — will increasingly determine whether closed-loop CAM earns price parity with virgin material. Automakers that lock in domestic recycling capacity before those rules tighten stand to capture the largest share of the next capital cycle.