A company that develops and commercializes material for the lithium-ion battery market will create nearly 300 jobs in Chattanooga as the business taps into the growing electric vehicle sector.
Novonix, the Nova Scotia, Canada-based company that opened a facility in Lookout Valley in 2019, is expected to invest about $160 million as it purchases and retrofits a building at the former Alstom plant off Riverfront Parkway, officials said Tuesday.
The planned 400,000-square-foot plant in Alstom’s former turbomachinery factory, often called “Big Blue,” eventually will produce up to 8,000 tons per year of synthetic graphite, according to Novonix.
That product is used in making ultra-long-life, high-performance anode material for lithium-ion batteries, specifically for electric vehicles and similar storage applications, officials said.
“I think it will be an awesome addition to the Alstom facility,” said Charles Wood, the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce’s vice president for economic development. “This is manufacturing in a sector that has a long growth curve out ahead of it.”