Ballard Power Systems and EnerSys subsidiary Hawker have announced they will build battery gigafactories in the United States.

Hawker confirmed it will build its factory in South Carolina after receiving USD200 million in incentives from the state government and Greenville County.

Parent company EnerSys flagged the investment in February. 

Meanwhile Ballard says it will build a fuel cell gigafactory in Rockwall, Texas after being granted USD54 million in investment tax credits from the US Internal Revenue Service as part of the Qualifying Advanced Energy Project Tax Credit (48C).

The company was previously awarded of USD40 million in US Department of Energy grants.

Hawker

Hawker says it plans to invest USD500 million developing a 500,000 sq.ft. (46,452 sqm) manufacturing facility in the Augusta Grove business park in Greenville. 

The operation, which will be the company’s second in South Carolina, wil manufacture various form factors of lithium-ion cells for commercial, industrial and defence applications, with a production capacity of four gigawatt hours (GWh) per year.

“We recognise Greenville as an emerging hub for high-tech companies with an attractive talent pool in a thriving community,” says EnerSys president and chief executive officer David M. Shaffer.

“Hawker is accelerating the global clean energy transition by significantly expanding our production of lithium-ion batteries across a broad range of end markets and applications.”

The company plans to begin construction in early 2025, with operations to be online in late 2027.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, final board approval, regulatory and incentive approvals.

Ballard

Ballard says it will invest USD110 million in phase one of Ballard Rockwall Giga 1 planned for a parcel of 22 acres of industrial land within the Rockwall Technology Park in Rockwall, Texas. 

Company president and chief executive officer Randy MacEwen says the company plans the investment from 2024 through the end of 2027 to build and commission a new manufacturing facility for membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs), bipolar plates, stacks and engines.

“This represents significant investment leverage as we plan to bring scaled, advanced manufacturing of next-generation fuel cells online in late 2027 – at the same time when we expect to reach capacity constraints of our existing North American production facilities based on our forecasted growth and production volumes,” MacEwen says.

Mark Biznek, Ballard’s Chief Operating Officer, says: “We expect our Phase I investment to provide for annual production capacity of 8 million MEAs, 8 million bipolar plates, 20,000 fuel cell stacks, and 20,000 fuel cell engines per year, or the equivalent of 3 gigawatts of fuel cells.” 

Ballard expects to make a final investment decision on this facility later in 2024, pending completion of customary conditions, including necessary approvals and definitive documentation.