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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

Advanced Battery Manufacturer Building Factory in California

07/10/2009
Quallion LLC, a manufacturer of advanced battery technologies, plans to build a state-of-the-art lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility in Palmdale, California. A company statement says the company has already been offered nearly $20 million in financial incentives from the state and local governments -- including the purchase of 9.65 acres of land for $1 -- but those incentives are contingent on receiving funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). "We are continuing to move aggressively at the local level as we await a decision from the DOE in anticipation of a positive outcome," says Paul Beach, Quallion's president. "We have game-changing technology at hand, and this plant can create as many as 400 jobs in California immediately, with even more jobs possible in the near future." The 400 jobs would be in construction, which Quallion says it will begin immediately upon receiving the DOE funds, with completion of the plant slated for 2012. The facility will produce lithium-ion batteries for electric automobiles and heavy-duty trucks. The Wall Street Journal reports that 122 companies submitted applications to the DOE to share $2 billion in federal stimulus funds earmarked for advanced battery projects, and that the DOE will divide $1.2 billion of that money among seven or eight companies to quickly jump-start electric car development; the DOE is expected to announce the awards sometime this month.

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