43
Axion Power looks for federal funds to expand facility
By GRACE WYLER
new castle, pa.
Axion Power Battery Manufacturing has proposed a $52 million expansion of its facilities here that would add 500 jobs and 11 production lines to meet growing demand for the company’s patented lead-carbon batteries.
The company has raised $26 million in private equity for the expansion and is looking to federal stimulus money to provide the additional funds necessary.
If Axion does not receive the funding, the company may be forced to relocate its New Castle operations overseas.
Axion, which relocated here from Canada in 2007, occupies the former New Castle Battery plant at 3601 Clover Lane.
The plant employs 55 people in the research, development, design and production of lead-carbon batteries, an emerging technology that can be used in hybrid vehicles and alternative- energy systems.
Growing demand for hybrid vehicles is likely to increase dramatically the market for Axion’s patented batteries, said Tom Granville, president of Axion Power Battery Manufacturing and chief executive of Axion Power International.
In anticipation of increased demand for lead-carbon batteries, Axion has partnered with Exide Technologies, a Georgia-based company that is a leading producer of traditional lead-acid batteries.
Exide has received $34.3 million in stimulus funds from the Department of Energy for its efforts to incorporate advanced carbon technology into the manufacturing of more affordable lead-acid batteries.
None of Exide’s stimulus money can help pay for Axion’s expansion, Granville said.
The company must secure $26 million from the Department of Energy to proceed with the project, he said.
Without the funding, Axion may have to look to other locations, possibly overseas. Already, government representatives from China, Russia and Germany have visited Axion to offer relocation incentives and try to persuade the company to move its facilities closer to emerging markets in Europe and Asia.
The Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies, a government agency, has proposed a $50 million minority partnership that would require Axion to move to Kaliningrad.
“It would be very disruptive for us to try and move to a different country, but if we can’t meet the capacity, then we’d really miss the opportunity,” Granville said. “We are a public company, and we have to take care of our shareholders.”
The company would like to remain in Lawrence County, Granville said, but the New Castle plant does not have the capacity to meet the rising demand.
“Our plan is to expand right where we are — this project is literally shovel-ready,” Granville said. “We feel very strongly about the potential of the work force here.”
U.S. Sen. Robert Casey Jr., D-Pa., has been working on behalf of Axion to help secure the funds, Granville said.
Casey recently sent a letter to U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu urging him to support Axion.