US battery manufacturer Sparkz announced it will begin construction in 2022 of a Gigafactory in West Virginia to commercialize their zero-cobalt battery which will initially employ 350 workers.
The move is strongly in line with US President Biden’s mission to secure a US-owned EV manufacturing supply chain. In the message, Sparkz also makes it clear who they consider their competitor on the global market: “Sparkz will begin workforce development partnership with United Mine Workers of America this year, break ground on GigaFactory in 2022 to compete against China.”
Sparkz had appeared earlier this year with the announcement that they were opening a solid-state battery plant in California. The necessary funding came from a grant from the California Energy Commission in 2021. Interestingly, the Virginia plant announcement was attended by state Senator Joe Manchin, who is known to have intricate ties to the coal industry and has fought extensively against environmental protection laws and technologies.
“Sparkz is re-engineering the battery supply chain by eliminating cobalt and setting our sights on making other battery components in America to end China’s dominance,” says founder and CEO Sanjiv Malhotra, adding: “The Biden Administration’s efforts to support economic revitalization in energy communities is extremely important for workers and job creators like us as we scale to full commercial production.”
sparkz.energy, msnbc.com(Manchin)
Keyword: Sparkz to build batteries in West Virginia