Massachusetts-based Aspen Aerogels, which won a GM Overdrive Award in 2021, is the latest GM supplier to announce a large investment from the U.S. government to grow a domestic supply chain for electric vehicle production, according to Bloomberg. The U.S. Department of Energy announced the firm is getting a $671 million loan from the Biden Administration to build a factory in Register, Georgia, near Savannah, that builds thermal barriers to help prevent EV battery fires.
“We are making sure that the supply side is made here in this country,” Energy Department Loan Programs Office director Jigar Shah said in an interview. “We have taken very seriously the onshoring of the entire supply chain.”
The facility in question already had $300 million invested by Aspen Aerogels, with an estimate that the project could cost about $1 billion. Current estimates have the facility on track to open by late 2026 or early 2027.
EV battery fires can happen when one cell overheats, starting a chain reaction of adjacent cells overheating, eventually causing a fire. The thermal barriers that Aspen Aerogels will produce at its new plant will isolate overheating cells to prevent fires. It expects the new plant to produce enough barriers for 2 million EVs annually. Its list of clients includes GM, Toyota, and other automakers.
“It’s a little hard to imagine how we’d do this without the support of the LPO program,” Aspen Aerogels CEO Donald Young said in an interview. “Having access to this level of capital would be challenging for us.”
Other recent investments from the Biden Administration into EV production include a $750 million grant for Wolfspeed to produce silicon carbide semiconductors, a $500 million grant to transition the GM Lansing Grand River plant into an EV factory, and $635 million in grants to expand America’s EV charging and hydrogen refueling infrastructure.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), was signed into law in 2021, which earmarks $3.16 billion in funding to support domestic battery manufacturing and improve the U.S. supply chain.
Comments
There goes that $671M down the tubes. Fire whoever approved it. Immediately.
This is classic Fascist economy. Industry in bed with government is not a free market system.
It’s only a loan. I’m sure they’ll pay it back. They’re going to make a ton of money helping to reduce the fire danger on EVs. Those things are selling like hotcakes.
Sarcasm indeed
They for sure won’t take the money and file bankruptcy in a few years. No way.
Capitalism at it’s finest