Swedish entrepreneur and CEO of Italvolt Lars Carlstrom, who was also the founder of Britishvolt, has formed a new company named 'Statevolt' to focus on the American market, starting with the construction of a new $4bn battery Giga factory in California.
The new facility, with a production capacity of 54GWh of lithium-ion batteries a year to support about 650,000 EVs, will be located in the Imperial Valley region, in the south of the Californian state.
Statevolt has signed a LOI with a local firm Controlled Thermal Resources (CTR) based in the Imperial Valley for the sustainable supply of lithium and power to run the proposed facility. CTR is in the geothermal energy field for over 3 years in the region and is uniquely equipped to support Statevolt's endeavors, claims the company.
The company calls this partnership part of its 'hyper local' business model for battery manufacturing, with the facility sourcing all critical inputs including lithium and power from local resources in a sustainable manner.
"Today, we face a significant shortage in the amount of lithium that is required to meet the demand for electric vehicles. We are pioneering a new, hyper-local business model, which prioritizes sustainability and resilience in the supply chain to solve this issue", said Lars Carlstrom, founder of Statevolt.
"More importantly, we believe this model will offer Statevolt a significant advantage in producing lithium-ion batteries at scale, to meet booming consumer demand and create good-paying, highly skilled jobs", he added.
Rod Colwell, CEO of Controlled Thermal Resources, said, "CTR is delighted to further our relationship with Statevolt. We applaud Lars and his team for taking a proactive approach to ensure the company's future lithium supply, while also consciously seeking out the cleanest lithium and power available for Statevolt's first U.S. Gigafactory."
Carlstrom opined that the development of lithium-ion batteries is crucial for the U.S. to meet its goals to transition to net zero. "Statevolt is proud to begin its journey to develop U.S. expertise and production of lithium-ion batteries, as we look to serve this critical market", he noted.
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