An Australian-based supplier of electric vehicle battery materials announced it will expand its Chattanooga production facility and move ahead with plans to develop an even bigger $1 billion plant after signing agreements this year to supply three automotive battery makers.
Novonix, which is preparing to begin commercial production of synthetic graphite made at its Riverside facility at The Bend in Chattanooga, announced this week it has agreed to supply at least 32,000 metric tons of its graphite material to the VW-founded battery maker PowerCo starting in 2027.
That deal follows an announcement two weeks ago that Novonix will provide the automaker Stellantis with up to 115,000 metric tons of synthetic graphite from 2026 through 2031 and nine months after Novonix inked a four-year deal to supply the battery arm of Japan’s Panasonic with 10,000 metric tons of battery material for use at its U.S. plants, starting next year.
“We’re really excited with the progress we’ve made this year, selling out all of the capacity that we plan to build at Riverside and now developing our plans for a future expansion site,” Chris Burns, Novonix’s chief executive, said in a telephone interview Tuesday.
Demand for Novonix’s synthetic graphite made in the U.S. is growing as battery makers try to reduce their reliance on China for materials used in automotive batteries for electric vehicles and other battery storage systems. Most lithium-ion batteries use synthetic graphite made in China from a petroleum byproduct.