The US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) has made a conditional commitment to provide a direct loan of up to $1.2 billion to ENTEK Lithium Separators to finance a new facility in Terre Haute, Indiana.

The lithium-ion battery separators manufactured at the plant will be used primarily in EVs to strengthen the US supply chain for lithium-ion battery cells. Once complete, the facility is expected to have the capacity to manufacture 1.72 billion square meters of separator material annually for the North American EV market.

ENTEK will be able to customize the separators to accommodate different EV and energy storage battery designs.

Each GWh of cell manufacturing requires 7-10 million square meters of battery separator depending on form factor. The number of EVs the project can support will depend upon the battery form factor (cylindrical, pouch, or prismatic) used for various battery chemistries. Based on the current form factors chosen by cell manufacturers, the project will support roughly 1.9 million mid-size EVs or 1.3 million eSUVs, according to the LPO technical team’s analysis.

The project will help US EV manufacturers meet battery component sourcing requirements under the 30D Clean Vehicle Credit. The tax credit, included in the Inflation Reduction Act, offers up to $7,500 for the purchase of new clean vehicles.

If finalized, the loan would be offered through the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) Loan Program, which provides loans to support US manufacturing of advanced technology vehicles, qualifying components, and materials that improve fuel economy. ENTEK and the DOE will need to satisfy certain technical, legal, environmental, and financial conditions before the Department funds the loan.

Source: US Department of Energy