The Secretary of Energy said here on Monday that Chattanooga is paving the way for a new electric vehicle supply chain in the United States as battery material manufacturer Novonix opens a factory in the city.

Secretary of State Jennifer Granholm (Jennifer Granholm) said at the inauguration of Riverfront Parkway's $160 million Novonix plant that the plant is helping to create an "entire ecosystem" related to the production of electric vehicles and the batteries that power them.

"This is exactly what every state and community should do," she told hundreds of people, who showed up at the former Alstom manufacturing base and are now renamed The Bend.

Granholm said that President Joe Biden is "bringing back the battery-powered car supply chain" and high-paying jobs from overseas.

"Battery and electric vehicle supply chains have traditionally been abroad," the former Democratic Michigan governor said, adding that moving it to the United States will help "ensure the future security of our energy system."

Granholm used the hockey analogy to say that Nova Scotia-based Novonix and its CEO Chris Burns and other companies are foreseeing the future, "ice hockey has landed in Chattanooga."

The Novonix plant in Riverfront Parkway can produce 10,000 tons of synthetic graphite annually and employs nearly 300 workers. This product is used as an ultra-long-life, high-performance negative electrode material for lithium-ion batteries stored in electric vehicles and grids.

Burns, who used to work for electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, said that North America lacks an electric vehicle supply chain and Novonix is ​​helping to create a "new era of electrification."

"We want to be a part of it," he said of the company that first opened a small factory in Lookout Valley in 2017.

Andrew Liveris, a Novonix board member and chairman of Lucid Motors, an upstart electric car manufacturer, said the battery materials company is "changing the rules of the game."

He said that as electric vehicles become a mode of transportation for the mass market, the United States is seeing a "turning point" in the country's mobile electrification.

Zhanna Golodryga, senior vice president of energy giant Phillips 66 and member of the Novonix board of directors, said that this is the key to improving energy independence and reducing carbon emissions.

"Developing the supply chain is crucial," said Golodryga, whose company recently invested $150 million in Novonix.

Former US Senator Bob Kirk said that Novonix is ​​strategically placing Chattanooga at the center of growth in the lithium-ion battery industry.

The city’s former mayor stated that Novonix is ​​“making Chattanooga the center of its North American operations”, adding that “high-paying jobs will improve people’s lives.”

The current mayor Tim Kelly said that the Novonix factory is "the tip of the spear" and the whole country is paying attention to Chattanooga.

"It makes Chattanooga the hub of our sustainable future," he said.

Bob Rolf, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economy and Community Development, said that the development of electric vehicles is "one of our great return opportunities."

"Tennessee has played an important role in this transition," he said, citing investments in the state by Volkswagen, Ford, General Motors and Nissan.

Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger said that no company has brought Novonix to the city more than Volkswagen.

The German automaker is preparing to produce electric SUVs at its Enterprise South industrial park plant in the third quarter of 2022 and is expected to hire another 1,000 workers.

Republican Congressman Chuck Fleischmann cited the growing partnership between Chattanooga and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which Granholm also visited on Monday.

In Oak Ridge, Granholm said that the new $1.2 trillion infrastructure spending plan signed into law last week should help promote broadband infrastructure across the United States and help more communities realize what is now available in Chattanooga. High-speed internet connection and smarter grid.

Granholm said that an additional US$65 billion will be allocated to improve broadband Internet access in rural areas, which will make broadband more accessible and affordable to low-income households across the United States, including 13% of households in Tennessee now without any broadband Internet connect.

"Chattanooga's experience as a'gig city' may mean that Tennessee will become a'gig state', because every corner of the state will provide funding for high-speed Internet services," she said in an interview with Grid Research and Integration. Say center when deploying. "So every family can use high-speed Internet."

Granholm said that the infrastructure package will also provide additional funding for more research in the laboratory, which is the largest of the 17 Department of Energy facilities. Scientists and engineers are studying the EPB fiber-based grid network in Chattanooga to create More microgrids and energy deployment systems to improve power reliability and cost.

Biden's goal is to achieve 100% clean energy power generation by 2035 and 100% zero carbon emissions by 2050.

"In order to do this, part of the legislation passed last week is a big step forward, but there is another part coming," Granholm said. "The solutions that the laboratory is researching are the solutions we need to deploy. We want to ensure that our research infrastructure keeps us at the forefront of global R&D."

The bipartisan infrastructure law will also fund additional charging infrastructure nationwide and Oak Ridge’s ongoing research to allow rapid wireless charging in 10 to 15 minutes, and one that may one day allow vehicles to be automatically charged on highways new technology.

"This laboratory is thinking about the future, even if it is dealing with current challenges," Granholm said.

Fleischman voted against the infrastructure bill. He said: "The Democrats' trillion-dollar bill goes far beyond the scope of rebuilding roads and bridges and does not alleviate the cumbersome federal regulations that hinder infrastructure projects in Tennessee."

Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318. Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com.

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