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Dive brief:
Diving knowledge:
EAM is already in talks with local raw material suppliers and transport partners for its operations.
When fully operational, the Greater Wilmington area facility will produce 50,000 tons of graphite anode per year, enough to power 850,000 vehicles.
The Mid-Atlantic Rail Industrial Park site was strategically chosen for its location because of its proximity to the Port of Wilmington, automotive suppliers, Southeastern vehicle manufacturing facilities and the community college local, according to EAM.
“Having a world-class, environmentally friendly facility in North Carolina addresses the supply chain concerns that the automotive industry has experienced in recent years,” said Sunit Kapur, CEO of EAM, in a statement. “We are proud that with our technological capability to manufacture natural and synthetic graphite, we will be able to provide graphite anodes to the growing electric vehicle battery industry faster, more reliably and at a competitive cost without import issues.”
EAM was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Mumbai, India. Since then, it has served as a material supplier to 45 OEMs worldwide, according to its website.
The company intends to capitalize on recent US federal government investments in electric vehicles to help grow its business with the US, EAM CEO Vikram Handa told Mobility Outlook in May. Under the Inflation Reduction Act, electric vehicle manufacturers would receive certain benefits if the minerals in the batteries are sourced domestically or in countries with free trade agreements, such as Australia, Mexico and Canada.
Although India does not have a global free trade agreement with the US, the country can use its partnership with Australia to tap into the US market for batteries and minerals, said Rahul Walawalkar, president of India Energy Storage Alliance, in Mobility Outlook. Australia can supply the raw materials while India can process them.
Also, the US has been negotiating with countries like India that do not have free trade agreements with OEM-focused clauses, Walawalkar added. In 2021, the US-India Strategic Clean Energy Partnership was launched, helping both countries achieve clean energy goals, including accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles and developing technologies of battery energy storage systems.
