As the global market for batteries continues to accelerate, American companies and communities are building out the supply chain to grow this industry across the nation. In the emerging “Battery Belt,” which includes much of the Southeast United States, the industry benefits from a unique advantage to cluster raw materials production, midstream manufacturing, and the final assembly of large grid-scale and electric vehicle batteries.
The opportunity to develop across the full value chain shines in Alabama, which has a history of mineral production, a natural graphite deposit, and is already a major player in the automotive industry.
This September, C2ES cohosted a roundtable event with the Alabama Mobility and Power (AMP) Center in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, as our first of three state specific conversations across the southeast United States. Participants included innovative startups and large multi-national companies, academia and research institutions, economic development professionals, and local and national non-profits. Together, these stakeholders led a conversation on how Alabama can leverage its competitive advantages to boost economic opportunity across the state.
Participants engaged in group discussions around common challenges in the industry and a strategic policy workshop to develop big picture goals and actionable next steps to accelerate the emerging sector’s growth here in America. Participants also had the chance to tour the AMP Center’s new advanced Power Research Lab, the Alabama Materials Institute, and the site of the upcoming Battery Research Lab. These labs, in partnership with the private sector, are supercharging battery research and innovation needed to meet growing demand for these technologies.
Why talk battery supply chain in Alabama?
Alabama offers a solid foundation for new battery supply chain development.
The state has a mature industrial base in several key sectors that would be compatible with new battery industry entrants, including defense and aerospace technologies and automotive manufacturing.
State agencies have been hard at work developing innovative strategies to attract and support new businesses in Alabama. The Economic Development Partnership of Alabama launched the Site Evaluation Economic Development Strategy (SEEDS), which offers a matching grant program for new facilities’ site assessment and development. Often a major barrier for new business, this program can help accelerate site development timelines by reducing financial hurdles.
To support companies as they grow their presence in Alabama, the s Alabama Department of Commerce’s workforce development, the Alabama Industrial Development Training (AIDT), offers customized training for companies at no cost. This includes construction of a new $30 million training hub for EV manufacturing and related battery industries. In an emerging industry, ensuring workers have the skills they need to succeed will help new facilities get up and running quickly and efficiently, while helping to build a long-term talent pipeline.
Driving these efforts are ambassadors from the state’s economic development, utilities, workforce training, and research institutions. This battery team, which includes the Alabama Mobility and Power (AMP) Center, aims to identify, recruit, and convene innovative companies, investors, and industry leaders in the state as Alabama looks to push the battery sector forward.
How Can We Build the Battery Supply Chain in Alabama?
During the roundtable conversation in Alabama, a key question emerged: How do companies address the cost of manufacturing at scale to meet the needs of a consumer market? With so many first of a kind factories looking to build in the United States, achieving economies of scale is critical to this nascent American industry.
Several supportive foundations emerged from the conversation to help reach this scale in Alabama, across the region, and country. Participants agreed that supportive and stable federal policy frameworks provide the certainty needed to unlock private markets to invest in new battery businesses. At the state level, workforce development and site preparedness, an area where Alabama leads nationally, is paramount to new business development.
Yet even with these supportive frameworks in place, one large barrier remains for companies looking to build their facilities in Alabama and across the region — access to private capital. Companies building these new first of a kind facilities in a highly technical field are hard pressed to find investors with the knowledge and patience to back capital-intensive business with long return timelines.
What’s Next?
To address these challenges and build out Alabama’s work on creating a supportive business environment for new battery supply chain companies, participants in the roundtable engaged in a policy and strategy workshop. Through this effort we collectively developed recommendations and experiments to move the industry forward, which will be shared in upcoming conversation takeaways and ultimately formal policy recommendations from C2ES.
Other near-term opportunities include upcoming federal legislation for permitting reform. This could provide a more predictable and timely development process for new battery industry facilities across the country.
Under the C2ES Regional Clean Economies Initiative, these conversations will continue with stops in Charlotte, North Carolina on October 16th and Atlanta Georgia on November 5th as we work toward a regional policy roadmap to support the growth of a battery and critical material supply chain across the Southeast.