Sila breaks ground at DOE-backed battery materials factory

Battery materials company Sila has cut the ribbon at a major plant in the northwest corner of the country.

Why it matters: Sila's plant is an important part of transitioning electric vehicle battery manufacturing back to the USA.

Details: Sila, founded in 2011, is holding a groundbreaking ceremony at the site of its Moses Lake, Wash., facility today.

• Expected attendees include Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, ARPA-E Director Evelyn Wang, execs from Sila customer Mercedes, and other VIPs from local and state government.
• When fully built, the factory will be able to produce enough of Sila's silicon anode material that goes into a battery for 1 million electric vehicles.
• The ground breaking shows that Sila is "on track to make shipments to customers by 2025," Sila co-founder and CEO Gene Berdichevsky told Axios. Prior to founding Sila, Berdichevsky was the seventh employee at Tesla and the principal engineer on the Tesla Roadster battery.
• Sila was awarded a $100 million grant from the Department of Energy out of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to build this factory, part of an effort to carve out EV battery supply in the U.S.

Zoom in: Most of the world's lithium-ion batteries use a graphite anode, which is largely sourced from China.

• Although the lithium-ion battery was invented by Exxon scientists in the 1970s, China has used government support and a growing domestic market to dominate battery production.
• Sila's silicon anode can juice up an EV's battery, adding energy density, which can mean a battery with greater range, or a vehicle with lighter weight.
• Sila's first customer Mercedes plans to use Sila's silicon anodes from the Moses Lake factory in its G-Class series vehicles. Mercedes will likely do final validation of Sila's anode batteries in 2025.

Of note: Sila is one of the most well-funded climate tech startups to come out of Silicon Valley.

• In addition to the $100 million grant for the factory, Sila has raised $930 million from investors including a series F closed in 2021, led by Coatue and including T. Rowe Price. The Series F valued the company at $3.3 billion.

Big picture: Berdichevsky says that Sila already has six years of manufacturing under its belt and the company has "learned a lot over the years about keeping the tools running and the yields high."

• If Sila can grow into an American battery success story, and deliver its anode to customers like Mercedes, it will do a lot to secure next-gen battery technology back in the U.S.