Source: United States Senator for Washington Maria Cantwell
Washington state Wins $200M to Jumpstart EV Component Manufacturing and Bring Hundreds of New Jobs to Moses Lake
Funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will support build out of two new electric battery component manufacturing plants, supporting U.S. sourcing and manufacturing of electric vehicles
EDMONDS, WA – Today the U.S. Department of Energy announced that two companies planning to build battery component manufacturing facilities in Moses Lake will each receive $100 million from a new Bipartisan Infrastructure Law program intended to spur domestic manufacturing of batteries for electric vehicles and the electric grid.
Group14 Technologies Inc. and Sila Nanotechnologies will each receive the grants from the DOE’s Battery Materials Processing and Battery Component Manufacturing & Recycling program, which Senator Cantwell championed during negotiations leading to passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Both companies focus on producing silicon anodes that can replace the conventional graphite anodes commonly used in today’s electric vehicle batteries. Silicon anodes should enable less expensive and more energy dense battery packs and can be built using materials sourced in the U.S., providing an alternative to China’s dominance of the international graphite market.
“The historic investments Congress made over the past two years are helping solve the next generation battery storage technology challenges right here in Washington,” said Senator Cantwell. “These two cutting-edge companies will not only use domestically sourced materials to make electric vehicles more affordable, they will be creating hundreds of high paying jobs that will help transform Moses Lake into an epicenter of clean energy manufacturing.
Group14 Technologies Inc., based in Woodinville, plans to invest $223 million of their own money, along with the $100 million they are getting from DOE, to build two 2,000 ton per year commercial manufacturing modules in Moses Lake. The factories will produce silicon-carbon composite anodes for lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles. The project is slated to create 300 well-paying skilled trade jobs to construct the Moses Lake plant and an additional 200 technical and operational jobs to commission, ramp up, and sustain production.
Sila Nanotechnologies, based in Alameda, CA, will invest $300 million of their own money, along with the $100 million from DOE, to build out their 600,000 square foot Moses Lake facility to full capacity. The new factory will produce enough materials to power 200,000 electric vehicles, making Sila’s plant the largest silicon anode production facility in the world. Sila expects to hire and train 150 to 300 additional technologists through the project’s completion.
Senator Cantwell is a strong supporter of federal investment into America’s critical energy industry, and of Washington state’s historic role in energy innovation. The Senator was the driving force behind passage of the CHIPS & Science Act, the largest science research investment in U.S. history. The Act included $16.9 billion in funding to support research on key technology areas at Department of Energy (DOE) National Laboratories, including the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, which is a world leader in EV battery research.
A portion of Cantwell’s legislation establishing a new 30 percent tax incentive for new electric buses and trucks was incorporated into the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act. In 2008 Senator Cantwell partnered with former Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) to author the pioneering $7,500 tax incentive for electrified passenger vehicles. This credit is often cited as a key catalyst for growing the electric car and truck market from essentially nothing 15 years ago to the hundreds of models that consumers will be able to choose from in the next year or two.
The funding announced today comes from DOE’s Battery Materials Processing and Battery Component Manufacturing & Recycling program, a new program which is funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The program aims to bolster domestic battery component manufacturing, materials processing, and recycling to support the growing electric vehicle market and energy storage demands. Today’s announcement of $2.8 billion in funding is for 21 projects by U.S.-based companies from coast to coast. These awards are the first investments of the historic $7 billion in funding for the program authorized by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.??
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