Anthro Energy broke ground on Tuesday on a factory in Louisville, Kentucky, that can make enough battery materials for more than 300,000 electric vehicles. But the facility’s headline output, 25 gigawatt-hours worth of electrolytes, is just part of the story. Anthro’s factory could give solid-state batteries a much needed boost in the U.S.
Battery manufacturers are scouring the planet for materials that aren’t encumbered by “foreign entity of concern” problems — in other words, materials that aren’t somehow controlled by Chinese companies. Anthro hopes its new facility, scheduled to start production in 2028, can help fill that need for many U.S. companies. The startup, which raised its first funding round just four years ago, wants its Kentucky factory to become a key node in the emerging U.S. battery supply chain.
To build the factory, Anthro received a $24.9 million award from the Department of Energy under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and another $18.4 million in investment tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act. Kentucky pitched in another $2.3 million in tax incentives in exchange for creating 110 permanent jobs. The Louisville factory will be set up to make a range of electrolytes, though Mackanic said he’d eventually like to see much of the output dedicated to Athro’s own polymer product, Proteus, which is designed to drop into an existing production line with minimal tweaks — a major reason why the startup can begin production using other company’s formulations.
Once customers validate Anthro’s own material, the startup can shift production accordingly. There’s every reason to think at least a portion of those customers will make the switch eventually. Proteus is a polymer that promises pave the way to solid- and semi-solid-state batteries, a holy grail of the battery industry.
Chinese companies are reportedly looking to start trial production of solid-state batteries in 2027. Solid-state batteries promise to solve a range of challenges presented by the lithium-ion batteries commonly used today. Solid-state batteries help boost energy density, and by eliminating flammable electrolytes, they should reduce the risk of fires.
Also, because they form a solid barrier between the anode and cathode, they prevent the appearance of dendrites, which are spiky growths that can bridge the two electrodes and cause short circuits. But for all their promise, solid-state batteries have so far failed to reach their potential because no one has figured out how to cost-effectively manufacture durable cells at scale. Anthro might have a solution to those challenges.
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