How NanoGraf's new factory positions Chicago to be a battery capital for the US
NanoGraf Corp. is ready to make Chicago a battery capital for the entire United States.
The Chicago-headquartered battery startup held a ribbon-cutting Friday for its new 17,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in the West Loop.
At peak production, the facility aims to deliver 50 tons per year of silicon oxide, a key competent in batteries, including those that power electric vehicles.
It is the first large-volume silicon oxide manufacturing facility to be commissioned in North America and was made possible through a $10 million Department of Defense contract along with additional tax credits. First started in 2012 at Northwestern University, NanoGraf secured an oversubscribed $65 million Series B funding round in early 2023 and continues to receive support from the military.
How NanoGraf is changing the U.S. supply chain
Connor Hund, chief operating officer at NanoGraf, said that without the Department of Defense and the U.S. Army's support, the Chicago startup would not be where it is today.
Halimah Najieb-Locke, deputy assistant secretary of defense for industrial base resilience at the U.S. Department of Defense — where her role is to think through how to manage and mitigate risks in the supply chain — said companies like NanoGraf are vital for the nation's federal supply chain.
"A big part of mitigation is making we sure that we at the DoD are ingesting innovation at the scale that it is happening in the commercial market," she said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. "NanoGraf is a success story for the American supply chain. Batteries and energy storage is one of the five areas that the Department of Defense found to be critical to our success on the battlefield."
NanoGraf says its battery cells packs about 15% more energy density than the best sellers of Panasonic, LG and Samsung.
"And we're doing it with silicon that's made here in Chicago," Hund added.
While its relationship with the military will always be core to NanoGraf's story, CEO Francis Wang indicated that his ultimate vision is to have every electric vehicle on the road powered by NanoGraf's next generation of lithium ion batteries.
The nation hopes to reach 1 million passenger electric vehicles on the road by 2030 and 100% clean energy by 2050, according to Kristin Richards, director of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
Richards said Friday's celebration was just one of many recent wins the city and state have seen in the past several months that showcase its growing EV sector, including Rivian's production ramp-up, Lion Electric's first manufacturing facility outside of Canada that will produce 20,000 EVs per year and Gotion's $2 billion investment in the state.