Former Tesla executive considering Commerce City for new sodium-ion battery foundary

Adams County might quickly land its third large-scale battery manufacturing plant, one producing extra reasonably priced and environmentally safer batteries.

The Colorado Financial Growth Fee authorised $1,053,000 in state Strategic Fund incentives on Thursday morning to Challenge Eleven, the code identify for a startup growing sodium-ion battery applied sciences.

“The principle drivers for the situation resolution are incentives, a business-friendly tax atmosphere, entry to expertise and renewable power insurance policies,” Michelle Hadwiger, director of world enterprise improvement on the Colorado Workplace of Financial Growth and Worldwide Commerce advised commissioners.

State assist, which can come within the type of money fairly than the standard tax credit score, is tied to the creation of 162 jobs over 5 years at a analysis and improvement campus and a battery foundry in Commerce Metropolis. Challenge Eleven can also be contemplating places in Michigan, Kentucky and California.

The roles, which embrace engineering, manufacturing and administration positions, are anticipated to pay a mean annual wage of $120,000, which is 172% of the typical annual wage in Adams County.

Native governments should match Strategic Fund awards and Commerce Metropolis is doing that. The mixed incentives work out to $13,000 per job. The state incentive is linked to the corporate elevating $26 million from buyers, Hadwiger mentioned. Late final yr it raised about $10 million.

Though the request was offered beneath a code identify, Landon Mossburg, a co-founder and CEO of Peak Vitality, spoke on behalf of Challenge Eleven with out hiding his id.

“This shall be very capital intensive, with numerous ramp up,” mentioned Mossburg, who expects battery cell manufacturing might begin in 2026. Provided that the corporate will possible report losses for the foreseeable future, it sought money incentives fairly than the tax credit, he advised commissioners.

Mossburg helped Tesla scale up its battery manufacturing capability as the corporate’s former engineering director. He additionally helped Northvolt, a Swedish battery maker, set up a producing base in North America.

Sodium is about 500 instances extra plentiful than lithium, and extensively out there within the U.S., lowering the nation’s dependence on overseas sources. Mining sodium is less complicated on the atmosphere than lithium extraction and sodium-ion batteries are less expensive to mass produce.

Past that, sodium-ion batteries are much less liable to overheating and catching hearth, making them safer. And after they put on out, they’re simpler to recycle.

The large knock towards them, nevertheless, is that they’re much less dense, which means they’ll’t retailer as a lot power. Peak Vitality mentioned it has discovered a approach to enhance storage capability and can proceed to analysis advances at its new campus.

Utilities and renewable power producers are anticipated to be the corporate’s largest clients. Renewable sources sometimes produce power intermittently when the wind is blowing or the solar is shining. Storage is vital to holding that power so it may be supplied to clients when wanted.

If Peak Vitality chooses Commerce Metropolis, it is going to symbolize a rising streak of battery suppliers, every with a unique expertise, establishing in Adams County. Federal incentives designed to convey extra inexperienced power and semiconductor manufacturing again to the U.S. have spurred a surge in investments.

Stable Energy, based mostly in Louisville, began producing supplies for solid-state batteries at a brand new manufacturing facility in Thornton final yr. That firm is a spin-off utilizing expertise developed on the College of Colorado Boulder.