An electric vehicle battery component plant under construction in Indiana is set to get a boost from the U.S. Department of Energy. The agency’s Office of Loan Program has reached conditional terms with Entek Lithium Separators LLC for a $1.2 billion loan for the project, officials announced in July. 9.
Entek is building the 1.4 million square foot plant in Terre Haute to manufacture wet process lithium ion battery separators for EV batteries. Work on the project led by design-build contractor Clayco is already underway, with utility work and building block preparation underway, Kimberly Medford, Entek’s president of manufacturing, said by email.
Clayco, which Entek appointed as the contractor for the work last year, has said it plans to carry out concrete work itself, as well as provide design, engineering and procurement services.
If the loan is finalized, it would come from the DOE’s Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Loan Program. which was created through the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 and has so far lent $8 billion to support projects focused on making fuel-efficient vehicles. The program is open to manufacturers who plan to build, expand or modernize facilities to produce applicable vehicles or their components. Loans can support up to 80% of a project’s cost with favorable interest rates linked to the US Treasury. The program also plays into the Biden Administration’s goal of getting and supporting manufacturing in the US
The DOE estimates that annual US electric vehicle battery production will require between 7 billion and 10 billion square meters of battery separator by 2030 as these vehicles become more widely adopted. Entek’s facility is expected to have an annual capacity of 1.72 billion square meters, which department officials estimate would be enough to supply 1.3 million to 1.9 million vehicles, depending on the batteries specifics in which the material is used.
“With this announcement, the U.S. is on a clear path to having enough operational and planned battery manufacturing capacity to meet the president’s 2030 sales goals for plug-in electric and hybrid vehicles,” said Jigar Shah, director of the loan programs office.
Entek, which claims to be the only U.S. owned and operated wet process battery separator, says the process offers performance advantages over battery separators. The company says it can work with battery manufacturers to customize separator features.
Entek has an agreement with Kore Power Inc. to supply battery separators from the Terre Haute plant for the manufacturer’s Arizona KOREPlex EV battery cell plant under construction. Last year, the department also announced it would lend Kore up to $850 million to support this project.
Shah says it can be difficult for growing manufacturers to obtain financing from the commercial banking industry, but all companies selected for conditional financing from the Office of Loan Programs have been able to successfully raise capital.
“There are a lot of equity providers that really respect our process,” he says, adding that they realize that if a manufacturer can make it through, that company is “a good investment to spend time with.”
