A company that’s planning to revamp a manufacturing plant in the former Alstom site in Chattanooga to make battery materials has raised $150 million from energy giant Phillips 66.
Funds from the investment will go into a separate new factory that Novonix plans to construct in the future, and Chattanooga is in the running for that facility as well, officials said Monday.
Danny Deas, chief operating officer of Novonix subsidiary PUREGraphite, said the city is “high on the list” for the planned new factory that would ultimately employ about 1,000 people.
He said PUREGraphite already has a smaller operation in Lookout Valley and intends to start work this year on retrofitting the former 400,000-square-foot Alstom plant on Riverfront Parkway where the company expects to create about 300 jobs.
Phillips 66 has agreed to acquire a 16% stake in Novonix, a Brisbane, Australia-based company that develops and supplies materials for lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and storage applications.