Dive Brief:
- Auto component manufacturer Coulomb Solutions plans to establish a battery pack manufacturing factory in the U.S., the company announced last week.
- The new factory will produce battery packs for commercial vehicles and will have capacity to produce 4.2 gigawatts hours a year, with the ability to expand as demand rises.
- While Coulomb Solutions hasn’t chosen a location, the company said it has narrowed its search to Arizona, Nevada and Texas and will finalize its selection by early summer.
Dive Insight:
Coulomb Solutions will source its lithium-iron-phosphate battery cells from China-based energy company Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL). These cells offer “greater durability and are much safer than nickel-cobalt-based chemistries,” the company said in the announcement.
Coulomb Solutions is the North American distributor for CATL’s battery solutions for commercial vehicles.
The planned battery pack factory will create 300 jobs, including in production, assembly, quality, engineering and supply chain.
“The new US production will cut our lead time in half, which supports CSI’s goal to enable the rapid adoption of electric drive systems in commercial vehicles,” Coulomb Solutions CEO David Mazaika said in a statement.
The company is ramping up its manufacturing capacity as demand rises for its battery solutions. In December, Coulomb Solutions signed a memorandum of understanding with Phoenix Motorcars to provide battery solutions for the EV maker’s commercial models.
Last month, Coulomb Solutions introduced its 20kW on-board charger, which will be used for commercial EVs in North America. The new charger was developed with single-phase input and the ability to add bi-directional charging.
Other battery producers are also investing more in LFP batteries. LG Energy Solution is building a $2.3 billion LFP battery facility in Queen Creek, Arizona, while Ford is building a $3.5 billion factory for the battery type in Marshall, Michigan.
