Get Big Pivots

EV adoption has been slowed by range anxieties. Does this Colorado company have a crucial answer?

 

by Allen Best

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis got to the heart of the matter quickly when it was his time at the lectern during a brief session held at Solid Power, a company expanding its production of a new type of battery that can be used in electric vehicles.

“We love it when people show up with big checks,” he said, drawing a laugh.

The check-bearing star of the proceeding on Oct. 11 was David Turk, an undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Energy, which recently awarded Solid Power $50 million allocated through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The company was created in 2011, the result of research conducted at the University of Colorado-Boulder. Its primary and original laboratory is in an office park in Louisville, but it now has a production plant in Thornton amid the proliferating big-box industrial parks located east of Interstate 25 and south of E-470.

John Van Souter

Jon Von Souter, the CEO and preisdent of Soldi Power, said the  $50 million federal grant will allow the company to accelerate its  plant expansion by two yeaers.

Solid Power’s factory neighboring businesses in Thornton similarly reflect the changing times. Next door is a company called Epicurean Butter. Meati offers plant-based meat products for distribution. Amann USA sells what it calls intelligent sewing threads and smart yarns.

The federal money will allow Solid Power to expand production. Another $60 million for the expansion will come from other sources. Partners include BMW and Ford as well as Korea’s SK ON, said John Van Scoter, the president and chief executive of Solid Power.

The federal grant enabled Solid Power to accelerate its expansion by two years and increase production substantially, Scoter said. With that scale, the company believes it will be able to be funded privately through “traditional debt vehicles.”

What exactly is this company’s new widget and why does it matter?

Solid Power believes its sulfide-based solid electrolyte material will enable performance advances in energy density, safety, high-temperature stability, and cost.

The company currently can produce 30 metric tons of electrolyte material annually at its Thornton plant. Through this multi-year capital improvement project, the company plans to increase production capacity to 75 metric tons of sulfide electrolytes in 2026 and to 140 metric tons in 2028.

“The technology promises to be safer, higher performing and lower cost than today’s lithium-ion batteries,” said Van Scoter. “Our sulfide-based technology will address today’s EV range anxieties, dramatically improve safety for both the occupants of each EV car as well as for the EV car companies and, again, lower vehicle cost.”

Julian Aguilar, vice president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 68, elicited a chuckle from, at left John Van Scoter, the president and chief executive of Solid Power, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, and David Turk, an undersecretary in the U.S. Department of Energy.

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Turk boasted of the great things done by the Biden administration and also the Inflation Reduction Act – the law that was passed in 2022, a year after the infrastructure law. Although it doesn’t have the phrase climate change in it, “It is the single largest climate clean energy legislation ever, not just in the U.S. but in the world.”

The $50 million for Solid Power was just part of $100 billion in grant money being distributed by his department within the federal agency, said Turk. (Readers may be confused about whether the source of the money was the Inflation Reduction Act or the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. So is this correspondent. Suffice it to say that it can be hard to distinguish the spigots when there is such a flood of money. That may apply to those administering the federal spigots.)

“If the grants and tax incentives weren’t enough, we also have a loan program,” said Turk. “Our plan program now has over $300 billion in the pipeline.” The goal of the federal government is to put wind in the sails — and sales — of such enterprises as Solid Power. He said Solid Power’s grant was just one of a thousand or so.

What qualified Solid Power to get federal money? Turk described three primary criteria:

First, does the technology work? And is it a business model that works?

Obviously, the answers are yes. “We think there’s an incredible potential for solid-state reasons,” said Turk. They will make EVs more reliable, giving them greater range because of improved energy density compared to lithium-ion batteries.

Second, can the federal money solve problems in the supply chains?

“China dominates the supply chain for a whole range of our clean energy products,” he said. In the case of photovoltaic panels and other technologies, the national laboratories developed technologies but other countries, especially China, have become the suppliers

“Now we’re fighting back,” said Turk. “We’re taking action thanks to the investments we’ve made so far in companies like Solid Power,” he said,

Testifying to that was Julian Aguilar, vice president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 68. The union has 2,200 members along the Front Range. He called out the provision for union labor in the DOE grants, including construction and other work at Solid Power.

Allen Best
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