The Department of Energy offered a $1.2 billion conditional loan Tuesday to a company that is building a factory in Indiana to produce an obscure but crucial part of electric vehicle batteries.
Entek is expected to employ 635 people in the factory, located in west-central Indiana near Terre Haute. The company is a 40-year-old maker of battery separators — a membrane that lies between the anode and cathode in the battery. The material prevents the battery from short-circuiting while ensuring the flow of lithium ions between the two sides.
DOE said the company’s new factory — a sprawling 1.4 million-square-foot complex expected to cost $1.5 billion to build — will help meet a significant slice of the domestic EV industry’s separator needs.
In a statement, Entek said its factory will “lead the U.S. expansion of separator manufacturing.”
