The DOE’s Loan Programs Office has announced a conditional commitment for an $850-million loan to finance construction of KOREPlex, a new production facility that US battery manufacturer KORE Power plans to build in Buckeye, Arizona. Final issue of the loan is several steps away, and is dependent on certain milestones being reached.
The plant, part of increasing national efforts to onshore battery manufacturing, is projected to produce a yearly estimated battery cell storage capacity of 6 GWh, enough to power 28,000 EVs.
Two production lines at the 1.3-million-square-foot facility are designed to manufacture batteries for EVs and stationary batteries, using nickel manganese cobalt chemistry as well as lithium-iron phosphate, which does not require cobalt, potentially reducing reliance on foreign supply chains.
Source: US DOE