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Considerable cloudiness. Occasional rain showers after midnight. Low 37F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Sparkz CEO Sanjiv Malhotra (right) announces plans Friday at the Robert C. Byrd Institute at Marshall University for his energy startup to open a battery factory in West Virginia employing 350 people and invest in workforce training for dislocated mine workers. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., is at left.
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Sparkz CEO Sanjiv Malhotra (right) announces plans Friday at the Robert C. Byrd Institute at Marshall University for his energy startup to open a battery factory in West Virginia employing 350 people and invest in workforce training for dislocated mine workers. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., is at left.
It seems every week brings announcements from automakers that they will build a new factory somewhere to make batteries to power the next generation of electric vehicles.
Just this week, electric vehicle battery maker LG Energy Solution said its joint venture with General Motors will invest $1.7 billion to expand their electric vehicle factory in Western Michigan. The expansion should provide up to 1,200 new jobs by 2025, company officials said. A day later, LG Energy Solution and Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler, announced that they will build a $4.1 billion electric vehicle battery factory in Windsor, Ontario, just across the river from Detroit.
So where is West Virginia in all this?
Last week, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and an energy-startup executive announced plans to build a battery factory in West Virginia at a site yet to be determined.
As reported by the Gazette-Mail’s Mike Tony, Granholm applauded Sparkz, a California-based battery supply startup, for committing to build a battery plant in an unspecified location in West Virginia that would employ at least 350 people and for partnering with the United Mine Workers of America.
Sparkz founder and CEO Sanjiv Malhotra said his startup, founded in 2019, will recruit and train dislocated miners to work at the factory. The company is focusing on contributing to a battery supply chain independent of China-sourced materials, Malhotra said.
“We should not be relying upon countries like China or others,” Granholm said. “We should be building a full supply chain here.”
UMWA International Secretary-Treasurer Brian Sanson said the partnership fit with energy transition principles the union released last year that supported buildout of renewable supply chain manufacturing in coalfield areas with hiring preference for dislocated miners and families.
Malhotra said the Sparkz workforce could expand significantly beyond its initial estimate of 350 people if it scales up power capacity.
Granholm also announced $5 million to support up to five training pilot programs in energy and automotive communities bringing together labor and industry partners to establish union jobs in the domestic battery supply chain.
It should be noted that cars and trucks aren’t the only products making the transition from fossil fuels and internal-combustion engines to battery power. The shelves at hardware stores hold chain saws, string trimmers, lawn mowers and other equipment that traditionally have relied on gasoline but now use batteries. Truly, the battery industry is bigger than electric vehicles.
Thus it’s good to see that West Virginia is part of this transition.
West Virginia can compete in these markets. The success of Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia in Putnam County and Hino Motors Manufacturing in Wood County shows that.
Once the Sparkz factory comes to pass, West Virginia can prove again that it’s worthy of a look from people in this growing industry.
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