Solvay confirms its plans to build a new battery-grade PVDF facility in Augusta, Georgia. With more than half of U.S. car sales projected to be electric by 2030, the U.S. produced PVDF – a thermoplastic fluoropolymer – will allow supply for the rapidly growing EV battery market, meeting the growing needs of U.S. domestic energy storage markets. The new operations will provide material for more than 5 million EV batteries per year at full capacity and create hundreds of jobs throughout the value chain.
Solvay and Orbia have just signed their joint venture agreement for this project. The partnership secures the supply by Orbia of needed materials for Solvay to manufacture its suspension-grade polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) production, which is used as a lithium-ion binder and separator coating in electric vehicle batteries. Solvay, on the other hand, will bring its process technology and global market know-how to this venture. In combination, Solvay’s Solef® PVDF innovations and Orbia’s raw material assets and production expertise will enable delivery of PVDF that enables electric vehicles to go farther on each charge, extends battery life and improves battery safety.
“We are proud of this important project, which is a key milestone in our electrification strategy, emphasizing our global commitment to sustainable mobility. The support of the DOE demonstrates Solvay’s pivotal role in advancing technologies that meet market demand, and improve energy storage and the safety and power of electric vehicles,” said Ilham Kadri, CEO of Solvay. “Further, our partnership with Orbia puts us in the driving seat to shore up an independent, sustainable EV battery supply chain in North America and create clean energy jobs.”
Said Sameer Bharadwaj, CEO of Orbia, “Our partnership with Solvay underscores our continued commitment to enabling the clean energy transition with our investments in energy materials. Orbia has a unique ‘mine-to-market’ position with integration in all the key materials needed to bolster North America’s EV supply chain and be Inflation Reduction Act-compliant.”
Solvay and Orbia intend to use two production sites in the southeastern U.S., one for raw materials and the other for finished products. Both plants are expected to be operational in 2026.
Solvay and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains also finalized their agreement for a $178 million grant to Solvay to help build this facility at its site in Augusta, GA. The grant was awarded to Solvay as part of the U.S. Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) to expand U.S. domestic manufacturing of batteries for electric vehicles and the electrical grid – as the project will fill a significant supply gap, building upon favorable regulatory conditions that promote regional production and material security.
SOURCE: Solvay
