“This grant will enable Microvast to accelerate its plans to onshore critical battery component manufacturing processes, including mass production of our patented polyaramid separator technology,” said Wenjuan Mattis, CTO at Microvast. “We expect the safety advantages of our innovative, highly thermally stable polyaramid separators to transform high-energy lithium-ion battery development and drive significant value for the industry,” she added.
The US$200m DOE grant, together with a more than US$300 million investment from the companies, is expected to support the construction of a new separator manufacturing facility in the US. Microvast expects the new facility to supply battery components to its existing battery cell manufacturing factory in Clarksville, Tennessee, as well as other customers across the commercial, specialty and passenger EV markets, energy storage systems (ESS) and other applications.
Microvast is collaborating with General Motors to develop new separator technology that can help improve EV safety, charging and battery life. Intellectual property contributions from both companies will be used, including a coating technology developed in GM’s Research & Development labs in Warren, Michigan.
