Public funding continues to fuel multibillion-dollar manufacturing projects across the country, especially plants focused on the growing U.S. electric vehicle industry.
For example, Chicago-based Clayco broke ground Wednesday on a $1.5 billion manufacturing facility in Terre Haute, Indiana, according to a press release shared with Construction Dive.
Commissioned by Entek, a Lebanon, Oregon-based producer of lithium-ion battery separator materials, the project consists of four buildings across 1.4 million square feet.
It also illustrates the current onshoring boom — incentivized with public dollars that spur more private investment — happening across the U.S. construction landscape.
The $1.5 billion campus project will be fueled in part by a $200 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, according to the release. Entek will also receive as much as $13 million in state tax incentives and grants, including for job training and smart manufacturing.
Clayco will self-perform the concrete foundations, flatwork, tilt-up wall panels and concrete paving. At peak, the project will generate approximately 400 construction jobs, according to the release.
The project represents the first phase of Entek’s planned expansion to produce about 1.4 billion square meters of ceramic coated lithium separators across its operations. The facility will produce enough separators to power 1.4 million to 1.6 million electric vehicles annually by 2027, Entek said.
Phase two of the project will add up to an additional 1.8 billion square meters of battery separator material, for a total of 3.2 billion square meters annually. That will provide enough separators for about 3.5 million electric vehicles.