JLL represented American Lithium Energy (ALE), a manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries, in a new 81,928-square-foot lease at 1395 Aspen Way in Vista.  The firm is expanding from 21,473 square feet in Carlsbad and will use the space for R&D, manufacturing and distribution of its batteries. The tenant is scheduled to move into its new space in the fourth quarter.

On the heels of our successful A round and SpaceWERX STRATFI award last year, this facility marks an important milestone for ALE,” said CFO Danny Joe. JLL’s Tim Olson represented ALE in the lease. 

“We continue to see the evolution of San Diego’s diverse economy with advanced manufacturing and other sectors growing in the region,” said Olson.  “We have the expertise and experience to guide companies through the complicated real estate process, allowing them to remain focused on their mission.”

Photo credit: CoStar.

A battery manufacturer has withdrawn plans for a $2.6 billion factory on 360 acres in Coweta County and must now repay money granted to it by local and state governments.

The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports Freyr Battery entered into an agreement to sell its 368-acre site south of Newnan to an undisclosed buyer for $50 million. The property is at Interstate 85 and Bethlehem Church Road, south of the Newnan-Coweta County Airport. Freyr purchased the property in late 2022 for $42.2 million.

Freyr had announced its Georgia project in 2022, promising over 700 jobs. It received a hefty incentive package and made Newnan its home base. Freyr has changed its business focus, moving into renewable energy.

In recent months, Coweta County has been the target of data center developers and homebuilders. A $17 billion data center proposal emerged in January, and a nearly 700-home project was pitched in November.

A new battery manufacturing plant is set to open at the Kingsboro megasite in Edgecombe County. Natron Energy, headquartered in Santa Clara, California, plans to invest $1.4 billion in the operation, which is expected to create up to 1,000 new jobs nine miles east of downtown Rocky Mount.

The site will produce sodium-ion carbide batteries, an alternative to lithium-ion technology. They are designed for medium—and low-speed electric vehicles, such as bicycles, and are viable options for large-scale energy storage solutions. Sodium is a much more available element than lithium.

Natron is likely to receive more than $50 million in state and local grants.

Natron Energy opened the first U.S. sodium-ion battery plant at its Michigan headquarters earlier this year. Natron claims sodium-ion solutions outperform, are significantly safer, and are far more sustainable than lithium-ion options.

Kankakee County has been awarded a $2.9 million grant from the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) to overhaul Highway 9, improving access to the new Gotion electric vehicle battery plant in Manteno.

The grant is part of IDOT’s Economic Development Program, aimed at facilitating key transportation improvements to support economic growth and job creation.The project includes the addition of new driving lanes, a center turn lane, shoulders, and a traffic signal at Spruce Street, along with a shared bicycle and pedestrian path.

“The road to a clean environment assuredly includes next gen energy storage technologies. But the road to producing these products is still paved with asphalt,” said Kankakee County Board Chairman Andy Wheeler.

The road project will help support the new $2 billion Gotion EV lithium battery plant located in Manteno. The 150-acre site is projected to create 2,600 new jobs, and Gotion’s investment will be supported by $536 million in assistance from the state of Illinois.

Don’t miss the Lifetime Achievement Award Presentation and Keynote Interview with G. Joseph Cosenza, Vice Chairman of The Inland Real Estate Group, LLC and President of Inland Real Estate Acquisitions, LLC at Connect Midwest: Multifamily, Affordable, Student & Senior Housing Trends on June 4, 2024, at the W-Chicago, City Center Hotel, Chicago, IL. Register Today to network with your peers!

EnerSys selected Greenville, SC to develop a lithium-ion cell gigafactory to advance battery production in the United States. EnerSys has applied for a comprehensive incentive package through South Carolina and Greenville County valued at approximately $200 million, including short-term and long-term incentives. The Company intends to use a portion of these proceeds, along with the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) tax benefits and potential additional federal funding, to make a $500 million investment with the potential to create 500 high-quality new jobs.

EnerSys is evaluating the development of a 500,000-square-foot manufacturing facility on approximately 140 acres in the Augusta Grove business park in Greenville. The operation would manufacture various form factors of lithium-ion cells for commercial, industrial and defense applications, with a production capacity of four-gigawatt hours (GWh) per year. It would be the company’s second factory in the area.

The company is targeting construction to begin in early 2025 and operations to be online in late 2027.

There’s still time to register for the Connect Industrial Midwest 2024 event on March 5 at Joe’s Live in Rosemont, Illinois. Click here for more information and to sign up.

Korea-based LG Chem has started work on the company’s 420-acre site in Clarksville, northwest of Nashville. LG Chem is investing $3.2 billion to build factories to make cathode material for batteries that will power electric vehicles. The cathode is a compound consisting of nickel, cobalt, manganese and aluminum. They hope to make enough to power 600,000 all-electric vehicles at a charge distance of more than 300 miles.

LG Chem’s investment is the largest investment by a foreign company in Tennessee history. The company expects to hire 860 workers over several years. Wages start at $24 an hour, and 200 jobs will pay $100,000 or more a year.LG Chem is spending half of its $3.2 billion in an initial round of construction. Production is set to begin in 2026. The plant will be built by JE Dunn Construction Co.

Toyota announced a new investment of nearly $8 billion that will add approximately 3,000 jobs at Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina (TBMNC) in Liberty, NC. This brings total investment to approximately $13.9 billion and job creation to more than 5,000.

This investment adds capacity to support battery electric vehicles (BEV’s) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV’s).

In 2021, Toyota, in partnership with Toyota Tsusho, announced the new Liberty location with an initial investment of $1.29 billion for battery production and the creation of 1,750 new jobs. With today’s announcement, Toyota North Carolina solidifies its position as the company’s epicenter of lithium-ion battery production in North America. Overall, the campus will boast seven million square feet, equating to 121 football fields of battery production.