The Biden administration gave yet another last-minute jolt to the electric vehicle supply chain Monday, issuing a conditional loan of almost $755 million to build a battery materials factory in Tennessee.
Novonix, the North American subsidiary of an Australian firm, plans to use the money to build a new factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It will produce synthetic graphite, a key battery material that today is almost entirely produced in China.
Funding comes from the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office (LPO), which has been on a tear in recent weeks. With just one more month left in President Joe Biden’s term, his administration has raced to complete deals months or years in the making, including huge loans to Rivian Automotive to build EVs in Georgia and to Stellantis, parent of brands like Ram and Jeep, to stand up battery plants in Indiana.
Also on Monday, LPO finalized a $9.6 billion loan to Ford and its Korean partner SK On to construct battery factories in Kentucky and Tennessee.
