Batteries produced at the new 235,000sq ft facility in Jacksonville, will be used for electric drive vehicles of American families.
The batteries will also power military hybrid vehicles and for other industrial, agricultural, and military applications.
Saft America expects to deliver 370MWh of battery power a year, which is equivalent of supplying about 37,000 electric-drive vehicles.
The US Department of Energy (DOE) secretary Steven Chu said powering the next generation of energy-saving electric cars and trucks with batteries will help Americans save money at the pump and improve the nation’s energy security.
DOE awarded a $95.5m grant to Saft America’s Industrial Battery Group, under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009.
The group provided an additional $95.5m in cost share to construct the battery factory capable of manufacturing high quantities of lithium-ion cells, modules, and batteries.
The project is part of the Recovery Act’s $2bn investments in battery and electric drive component manufacturing, supporting 20 battery and ten component manufacturing factories.
At full scale, the investments will support factories with the capacity to supply nearly 500,000 electric drive vehicles.
