Graphite is in virtually all EV batteries, and Chicago-based Anovion Technologies is opening the largest graphite production facility in North America.

Anovion is initially investing $800 million to open a 1.5 million-square-foot graphite production factory in Bainbridge, in Decatur County, Georgia, which will create around 400 jobs. This new expansion facility is the first of this scale for the company.

The factory will produce 40,000 metric tonnes per year of synthetic graphite anode material for lithium-ion batteries.

Anovion said it chose Bainbridge because of its existing and planned low- and carbon-free energy sources for power, short supply chains, and access to existing rail infrastructure.

Eric Stopka, chief executive officer of Anovion, said about choosing Georgia for its new graphite production factory:

Not only does existing infrastructure make Southwest Georgia an attractive location for Anovion’s new facility, but the proximity to other battery and EV manufacturing plants will allow us to further reduce our carbon footprint.

The company’s executive chairman, Chip Dunn, noted that Anovion is working to secure “a domestic source for … critical materials required for US lithium-ion battery production.”

In October 2022, Anovion was awarded a $117 million grant from the US Department of Energy under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law so it could help develop the domestic battery manufacturing supply chain.

Anovion also said today that it’s going to expand its hydro-powered manufacturing facility near Niagara Falls, New York, which it says is one of the only qualified US sources of battery-grade synthetic graphite that’s commercially shipping product today.

Read more: The US’s first-ever complete solar supply chain is coming

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