Battery startup NanoGraf Corp. is expanding to Flint, Michigan, with a $175 million investment that calls for a sizable manufacturing facility.
The Chicago-based venture on Friday said the planned facility will be capable of producing 2,500 tons of NanoGraf's silicon anode materials. That level of production could power up to 1.5 million electric vehicles per year, the company said.
The company also said the new facility, its third battery material production facility, will increase NanoGraf's total manufacturing footprint to more than 414,000 square feet — meaning the Flint facility will be the company's largest site to date. It will join the 17,000-square-foot manufacturing facility NanoGraf opened in the West Loop last December. The Northwestern University spinout also is opening a second, larger facility in Chicago at 455 N. Ashland Ave.
The Flint project will create 200 construction jobs and up to 150 new permanent jobs for operations.
NanoGraf CEO Francis Wang said the company looked at "about five different states" before choosing Michigan.
"Obviously Illinois was heavily considered. We wanted to still be in the Midwest, and our scale up is very much targeted towards electric vehicles, and it's hard to compete with what you know Michigan offers," Wang told Chicago Inno.
NanoGraf's headquarters, military-focused production facilities, and R&D operations will remain in Chicago, the company said.
The $175 million investment includes a $60 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains, which supports commercial-scale domestic battery manufacturing projects. NanoGraf will use the grant and its own capital to retrofit a former Buick City site in Flint and make it one of the largest battery material manufacturing sites outside of Asia.
The $60 million grant is not the first support the Chicago startup has received from a federal agency. NanoGraf's growth has been bolstered since its 2012 founding by a longtime relationship with the U.S. Army. The company has received more than $45 million from the U.S. Department of Defense since it was founded.
The company's silicon anode material is used to make batteries the company says are lighter and longer-lasting than its competitors' and serve an important function for soldiers in the field.
Wang said NanoGraf's strategy has always been to create a stable, sustainable company and establish a beachhead market before making the leap to the electric-vehicle market.
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