SANBORN, N.Y. — The Biden administration announced several projects connected to the bi-partisan infrastructure law, and one of those announcements impacts a company with a facility in Western New York.
Anovion Battery Materials, a Chicago-based company with a facility in Sanborn up in Niagara County, was the recipient of a $117M federal grant.
The company manufactures synthetic graphite material used in electric vehicle batteries.
Anovion announced they intend to build a new, large-scale, facility, presumably in Niagara County, that is capable of producing 35,000 tons of synthetic graphite per year.
"The public should be very proud of the fact that the USA is finally waking up to the call to electrify the fleet," said Eric Stopka, CEO of Anovion. "[The U.S.] is reducing its dependency on all the banner materials which are being sourced abroad."
The company says this facility will be the first U.S.-owned and operated facility, of its size, in the nation. The graphite material the company produces is used in electric vehicles, medical devices and other industrial applications.
"This grant, along with the others being announced today is an important cornerstone to starting that industry off and reducing our dependence on foreign sources of materials," Stopka said.
In total, President Biden announced $2.8B worth of grants to companies in the electric vehicle industry across 12 different states. 20 companies were recipients of a grant.
Jennifer Granholm, Secretary at the Department of Energy, called the announcement "huge" and that it will "make battery materials and components here at home that we currently import from other countries."