This project is pivotal for the U.S. EV battery supply chain, and benefits from a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy and a Joint Venture with Orbia
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.
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Solvay is a science company whose technologies bring benefits to many aspects of daily life. With more than 22,000 employees in 61 countries, Solvay bonds people, ideas and elements to reinvent progress. The Group seeks to create sustainable shared value for all, notably through its Solvay One Planet roadmap crafted around three pillars: protecting the climate, preserving resources and fostering a better life. The Group’s innovative solutions contribute to safer, cleaner, and more sustainable products found in homes, food and consumer goods, planes, cars, batteries, smart devices, health care applications, water and air purification systems. Founded in 1863, Solvay today ranks among the world’s top three companies for the vast majority of its activities and delivered net sales of €13.4 billion in 2022. Solvay is listed on Euronext Brussels and Paris (SOLB). Learn more at www.solvay.com.
Orbia is a company driven by a shared purpose: to advance life around the world. Orbia operates in the Polymer Solutions (Vestolit and Alphagary), Building and Infrastructure (Wavin), Precision Agriculture (Netafim), Connectivity Solutions (Dura-Line) and Fluor and Energy Materials (Koura) sectors. The five Orbia business groups have a collective focus on expanding access to health and well-being, reinventing the future of cities and homes, ensuring food, water and sanitation security, connecting communities to information and enabling the energy transition with basic and advanced materials, specialty products and innovative solutions. Orbia has a global team of over 24,000 employees, commercial activities in more than 100 countries and operations in over 50, with global headquarters in Boston, Mexico City, Amsterdam and Tel Aviv. The company generated $9.6 billion in revenue in 2022. Orbia trades on the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV: ORBIA).
