Hyperdrive
Battery Startup Builds Second US Facility in Industry Ramp-Up
- Washington factory funded with $100 million federal grant
- Project is part of wave of battery plant construction in US
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Group14 Technologies Inc. has begun construction on an advanced battery technology plant in Washington State – funded in part with a $100 million federal grant – whose products will help power electric Porsches.
The Moses Lake facility will make a silicon-carbon material for battery anodes, boosting the amount of energy batteries can store and slashing the time it takes to recharge them. The project comes as more manufacturers change their capital-investment plans, moving projects that might have been built in Asia to the US instead as a result of generous government funding. “It’s really shifting the focus for battery production and supply chains,” said Rick Luebbe, the startup’s chief executive officer.