Australia's Novonix gets $755 mln US loan commitment to build graphite plant in Tennessee (updated)
17/12/2024 06:50
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By Melanie Burton
MELBOURNE, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Novonix NVX.AX said on
Tuesday it has secured a conditional $754.8 million loan
commitment from the U.S. government to partially fund a proposed
graphite plant in Tennessee, under the Advanced Technology
Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program.
The company's shares rallied as much as 16% on Tuesday after
it announced the conditional commitment from the U.S. Department
of Energy.
At full capacity, the proposed facility in Chattanooga is
expected to produce about 31,500 metric tons a year of synthetic
graphite, which can support the production of lithium-ion
batteries for about 325,000 EVs each year, Novonix said.
The new facility is expected to reach full production
capacity by the end of 2028.
The announcement has come in the same month as China
tightened restrictions around graphite exports to the U.S., part
of tougher measures that included export bans on "dual use"
strategic metals including gallium and germanium.
"Recent announcements from China to further scrutinize the
export of battery-grade graphite to the United States highlight
the importance of domestic production of high-performance,
battery-grade synthetic graphite," said CEO Chris Burns.
Novonix has signed offtake agreements with Panasonic Energy
Co, Stellantis STLAM.MI , and Volkswagen VOWG_p.DE
batterymaker PowerCo SE.
The company plans to expand the production capacity at the
site to 75,000 tons a year of synthetic graphite, depending on
customer demand and access to additional financing, it said.
(Reporting by Melanie Burton in Melbourne and Roshan Thomas in
Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas and Sonali Paul)
((Roshan.Thomas@thomsonreuters.com;))