Dive Brief:
- Synthetic graphite producer Anovion will supply American Battery Factory with critical battery materials for its lithium-iron phosphate battery production network as part of a new agreement.
- Anovion will become the battery manufacturer’s preferred supplier of synthetic graphite anode material. The partnership also includes joint investment in emerging technologies to enhance lithium battery performance and its supply chain, per the news release.
- “Utilizing Anovion’s innovative synthetic graphite provides us with one more essential ingredient needed to achieve our mission of establishing a world-class domestic LFP battery cell supply chain,” ABF President and CEO Paul Charles said in a statement.
Dive Insight:
ABF struck the supplier deal as it prepares to develop its first network of safe lithium battery gigafactories in the U.S. over the next 36 months.
In addition to establishing large-scale EV battery manufacturing in the U.S., Charles said in a release the company plans to onshore its entire supply chain in that same timeframe.
"We focus on three areas: fostering battery storage, supporting electric vehicles and supplying the U.S. military and government with 'Made-in-USA' products that meet national security requirements,” the CEO said in a statement.
Chicago-based Anovian is one of 21 companies to receive grants to boost EV battery supply under the first round of funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure law.
Anovian received $117 million in funding to supplement the expansion of its existing synthetic graphite anode production facility near Niagara Falls, New York. The supplier also plans to build a new, large-scale manufacturing facility, producing up to 35,000 tons per year of the material, according to a release.
Synthetic graphite is a viable substitute for graphite as a way to bolster domestic supply of the mineral. The material is typically made by heating the carbon-rich material petroleum coke and coal-tar pitch, restructuring their carbon atoms to create graphite. The process yields a more standardized final product that tends to be higher in purity, according to Activated Carbon.
The material is widely used in the battery industry, ABF said in the release on its partnership. On why it chose Anovion as its supplier, the battery maker said the company uses “proven, reliable, scalable graphitization technology to ensure a product with high crystallinity and low impurities.”
