Sila, a next-generation battery materials company, today announced that it has begun expansion of its first automotive manufacturing facility, Sila Moses Lake in Washington state. This milestone marks the start of the plant's first commercial production of its groundbreaking Titan Silicon™ Anode in 2025. Sila is also investing in workforce development through partnerships with local technical schools to foster a solid talent base to scale up its manufacturing.

The expansion of the Sila factory includes production lines and state-of-the-art quality systems for the automotive industry. Once production begins, the plant will have sufficient capacity to supply several automotive customers, including Mercedes-Benz.

“Two things are crucial for an innovation to significantly drive the faster transition to electric vehicles. Firstly, the new technology must be convincing by setting new standards and making electric cars more attractive to a larger group of people - which we have achieved with the introduction of our Titan Silicon Anode. Secondly, the technology must be massively expanded so as not to end up as a niche product. “We are excited to begin construction in Moses Lake, taking the next step on our unwavering path to global scale,” said Gene Berdichevsky, co-founder and CEO of Sila.

Today, Sila's Titan Silicon Anode delivers 20% higher energy density than the industry's most powerful graphite cells. This enables car manufacturers to provide electric cars with unsurpassed performance, which offer a significantly longer range and shorter charging times. Beyond its transformative impact on lithium-ion batteries and the automotive industry, the Sila plant expansion will also help strengthen U.S. leadership in domestic manufacturing and energy security.

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC) last year awarded Sila $100 million in funding to accelerate expansion of the Moses Lake plant. Sila successfully fulfilled the contract with MESC, whose investment in Sila supports hundreds of jobs and strengthens the U.S. battery supply chain.

Sila will use a portion of the funds received from the DOE to invest in local workforce development. Partnerships with Big Bend Community College (BBCC) and Columbia Basin Technical Skills Center (CB Tech) on coursework and dedicated training programs are designed to prepare students for entry-level technical and operational positions. Over the next five years, Sila expects to hire 100-500 full-time employees and have the facility capacity to operate one million cars.

The expansion of Sila Moses Lake follows a number of important milestones that have significantly advanced the company: In 2021, with the introduction of the WHOOP 4.0 fitness tracker, Sila was the first manufacturer of next-generation silicon anode materials on the market and was the first such manufacturer to have one Car manufacturer, Mercedes-Benz, signed a supply agreement. Earlier this year, Sila launched its silicon nanocomposite anode “Titan Silicon,” designed for mass production. This month, Sila also finalized the contract with the US DOE's Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains to award $100 million for battery materials processing and battery manufacturing.

For more information, visit silanano.com .

 

Source:businesswire.com

Report Abuse