EnerSys selected to develop lithium-ion cell gigafactory

EnerSys, the global leader in stored energy solutions for industrial applications, has been selected to enter award negotiations for $199 million from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains to support the development of EnerSys’ lithium-ion cell production facility in Greenville, SC.

The DOE funding is part of the federal $62 billion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) Battery Materials Processing and Battery Manufacturing Grants, which are focused on ensuring that the U.S. has a viable battery materials processing industry with the objective of expanding domestic battery manufacturing capabilities and enhancing processing capacity. The selection is subject to final contract and funding negotiations between the DOE and EnerSys, which could take approximately 120 days to conclude.

The company plans to invest approximately $615 million to construct and commission the plant over the next four years. The company also plans to invest approximately $50 million to construct a specialized production line for the US Department of Defense. As announced in February 2024, EnerSys had also been awarded a comprehensive incentive package through South Carolina and Greenville County valued at approximately $200 million, which includes a combination of short-term and long-term incentives. EnerSys intends to use the federal, state, and local funding, along with a portion of the tax benefits received through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), to support the capital requirements of the gigafactory.

EnerSys’ plan includes developing a 500,000ft² manufacturing facility with the potential to create up to 500 high-quality new jobs. The operation will manufacture various form factors of lithium-ion cells for commercial, industrial and defense applications, with an initial production capacity of 5GWh per year. The factory will help support the needs of critical customers such as the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) which has specific manufacturing requirements for domestically sourced batteries. EnerSys is also progressing on a strategic relationship with Verkor SAS (Verkor), a European leader in battery technology, to leverage their expertise in electrode manufacturing and high-speed cell production to support the factory. EnerSys’ Board of Directors has formally approved the investment and development plan.

“We're pleased to be selected for DOE funding to support this important domestic manufacturing investment,” says EnerSys President & CEO David M. Shaffer. “Our new factory will provide lithium-ion cells supporting a wide range of our products across our business segments, including fast charge and storage systems, NexSys iON batteries to power electric forklifts, Alpha XRT-Li extended runtime power systems for communications networks, and future incremental high-energy Li6T batteries for DOD ground vehicles. This project will strengthen our U.S.-based supply chain and provide us the manufacturing scale and flexibility we need. We are confident that this factory will generate a strong return on investment and will help drive the long-term growth of our company.

“We're excited to advance this project to production as quickly as possible. We also thank the State of South Carolina and Greenville County for their continued support,” Shaffer concludes.

EnerSys intends to begin construction in 2025 with commercial production operations expected to begin in calendar year 2028.