Graphjet to build graphite plant in Nevada
The aspect making this production site special is that Graphjet holds patents for the production of graphite and graphene from agricultural waste. The US plant, which is scheduled to start production in 2026, is planned to be able to produce up to 10,000 tonnes of battery-grade graphite per year. This is enough for the batteries of more than 100,000 electric vehicles annually. Furthermore, the emissions are significantly better than traditional graphite production produces: “Graphjet’s technology produces only 2.95 C02 emissions per KG of graphite, compared to 17 C02 emissions per KG with synthetic graphite in China and even 9.2. C02 emissions per KG with natural graphite in Canada,” Aiden Lee, CEO and Co-Founder of Graphjet said.
Graphjet expects to invest between $150 million and $200 million into the facility and is still evaluating financing and strategic options to fund the plant. The company expects to hire over 500 “positions “high-skilled labor positions” at the plant. Nevada was selected as a location due to its close proximity to a “large quantity of battery manufacturers and automotive OEMs.” These famously include Tesla and Panasonic, but lesser-known projects have sprung up as well, such as Lithium America’s mine or the battery recycling facility being built by the American Battery Technology Company. Simiarly, Redwood Materials sprung out of Tesla and is building an ecosystem out of the manufacturers old batteries.
“As the only pure-play direct agriculture waste-to-graphite technology developer, Graphjet is well positioned to become the leading source of graphite for the US and we are excited to have Nevada serve as our launching pad into this market,” said Aiden Lee. “We are laser focused on getting our commercial production online as quickly as possible and are in discussions with several players to secure offtake agreements for our planned Nevada facility. We look forward to investing into the region and creating many local green energy jobs as we build a first-of-its-kind, next-generation graphite production facility in the US.”
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