Alameda, California-based battery tech company Sila is taking a major step forward in its Moses Lake plans.
On Wednesday, Sila announced it had started the build-out of its Moses Lake factory. The company first purchased a more than 600,000-square-foot facility in Moses Lake in May 2022, and Sila previously told the Business Journal it would cost in the "low nine figures" to get ready for production.
Production of silicon-based anode powder at the Moses Lake plant will start in 2025, according to Sila.
"We’re pleased to take the next step in our unwavering journey to reach global scale with the start of construction at Moses Lake,” Gene Berdichevsky, co-founder, and CEO of Sila, said in a release.
Sila was founded in 2011. The company's silicon-based anode powder is meant to replace the traditional graphite powder found in most batteries today, with the aim of making batteries cheaper, smaller and longer-lasting. Sila is eyeing consumer electronics and already powers a wearable fitness tracker called the Whoop, but its larger ambitions, and a major reason for the Moses Lake plant, include electric vehicles.
The company said it will hire between 100 and 500 workers in Moses Lake and have capacity to power 1 million cars in the next five years. Sila originally targeted the second half of 2024 for first production in Moses Lake and the first half of 2025 for full production. Sila added it will have capacity in Moses Lake for multiple automative customers, which include Mercedes-Benz.
Sila in October named Rosendo Alvarado as plant manager in Moses Lake. He was previously Sila's head of operations and has more than 30 years of experience.
Moses Lake is attracting multiple Sila competitors in the battery tech space. Woodinville-based Group14 Technologies is building a factory campus in Moses Lake slated to open in the second half of next year. Group14's Moses Lake plant will start with two manufacturing modules that will each produce 2,000 tons of Group14's battery powder per year. The company plans to have at least six modules there eventually.
Palo Alto, California-based OneD Battery Sciences is retrofitting two 12,500-square-foot facilities in Moses Lake as well.
Part of Moses Lake's draw is cheap electric power and a strong labor pool, but the town is also home to REC Silicon, a polysilicon producer for the solar industry. REC makes a byproduct gas called silane that is crucial to this battery tech, but the company had to close its Moses Lake plant in 2019 due to the trade war with China.
After receiving a major investment last year from the South Korean manufacturing company Hanwha Corp., however, REC is reopening its Moses Lake plant. The company also has a plant in Butte, Montana.
