American Battery Factory setting up shop in Arizona

By spring 2025, the city of Tucson, Arizona, will be home to a new 2 million-square-foot lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cell gigafactory operated by American Battery Factory (ABF).

The company, headquartered in American Fork, Utah, aims to be at the forefront of developing LFP battery cells in the United States, and broke ground on its 267-acre site in Pima County’s Aerospace Research Campus in October 2023.

According to ABF President John Kem, construction will ramp up in the coming months as machining is finalized, with the first phase of construction expected to be completed in 2025. There are plans to utilize the region’s high-capacity border and transportation infrastructure to ship battery cells to nearby markets.

ABF says the plant is expected to create up to 1,000 jobs and generate $1.2 billion in capital investment and $3.1 billion in economic impact to the state while accelerating the growth of the clean energy economy nationwide.

“There is no real effective [LFP] battery cell manufacturing in the U.S. at the scale we’re doing it,” Kem says. “It doesn’t really exist yet. The factory we’re building will be close to 2,000 feet long. This will be a long process. … We did initial groundbreaking, and earth moving will commence in a few months. We’re finalizing the building architecture part. You can’t build everything until you’ve finalized all the machining. There are about nine main sections to this factory, and machining affects everything from electrical to plumbing.”

The company says it is entering the market at a historic inflection point, with the global market for lithium batteries expected to reach $105 billion by 2025 and the demand set to increase 10 times over the next decade. The company’s battery cells, with cathode material consisting of iron phosphate instead of elements such as cobalt and nickel, represent a departure from those working with other lithium battery chemistries and are mainly used for home and business energy storage, as well as small engines and electric vehicles (EVs).

ABF says it plans to transform the current single-source energy paradigm, opening the window for using software and technology to store an unlimited inventory of clean energy from sources such as solar and wind for use while also taking pressure off existing power grids.

“You don’t need cobalt and nickel and those other rare earth metals. It’s a much more stable process and [the batteries] last longer," Kem says, noting the key difference in LFP batteries is their stability. "You get more than twice the life [as a standard lithium-ion battery]. They’re far more stable and you don’t have the fire hazard. That’s the value. It’s still lithium-ion, but it’s not lithium that’s the problem. It’s all those other [elements].”

Typical EV batteries have a useful life of seven to eight years, but LFPs will have a life of 12-18 years before requiring recycling, Kem says.

ABF’s gigafactory will be a one-stop shop, Kem says, with a headquarters, research and development (R&D) center and initial factory module built by 2025. The company notes that through “cutting-edge construction technology,” the building will greatly limit waste onsite, be airtight and ensure the protection of the battery cells during production.

Project partners include Gov. Katie Hobbs, the Arizona Commerce Authority, Sun Corridor Inc., Pima County, the city of Tucson, Pima Community College and Tucson Electric Power. Kem says the company has agreements in place with both Pima Community College and the University of Arizona to help train people to work in the factory.

The first 4-gigawatt factory line will employ about 300 people. “[Tucson] provided a mix of land, energy and people that are cost effective," Kem says. "Arizona had land availability, [inexpensive] electricity and we’re not a huge water user, so we can operate there pretty effectively.”

“We are seeing a major shift in the types of businesses being pursued by communities and policymakers across the country," adds Adelita S. Grijalva, chair of the Pima County Board of Supervisors. "New and sustainable projects are coming for our residents thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act. Pima County looks forward to partnering with American Battery Factory in developing a more robust green economy.”

Though ABF will source raw materials upon startup, recycling will eventually work its way into the production process. Kem says recycling will be built into the plant’s machinery, where certain chemicals the company uses will instantly be pulled into a storage tank, recycled and brought back into the factory line. ABF also has had conversations with several battery recycling companies, exploring the possibility of bringing a recycling center to the Tucson area or even within the gigafactory’s footprint.

ABF also wants to make battery recycling easier on producers by thinking years in advance.

“We’re working with battery pack [producers] who would take our battery cells and say, ‘Hey, how can we produce our cells and you work your battery pack machining over the next year or two so what we produce is already set up, so 6,000 cycles from now, when you’re ready to pull ours apart, it actually will pull apart with yours to be recycled far better than they are now,’” Kem says.

The company also will try to limit the need for recycling in its battery cell manufacturing process by perfecting its chemistry. “We will bring [quality control] into our machining line and we will reduce the need to recycle in production by finding errors [in chemistry] early,” Kem says.