Australia’s first large-scale electric car battery factory in the works

Electric car battery production could be brought closer to home with Recharge Industries looking to build Australia’s first large-scale lithium-ion battery cell factory.

The US-based organisation plans to build the plant in Geelong, Victoria which will have a 2 gigawatt hour (GWh) yearly production rate by the end of 2024.

Production will then ramp up to 6GWh in 2026 before the facility is upscaled to 30GWh by 2030.

Recharge Industries says it already has the equipment needed to produce 2GWh worth of battery supply along with investment from its parent company, Scale Facilitation.

Alongside EVs, it also plans to make batteries for the stationary storage market.

Recharge Industries expects the facility to employ between 1500 and 2000 workers, reports Drive. It has also employed engineering consultancy firm Accenture to offer guidance on the plant’s construction.

“Establishing a sovereign manufacturing capability to produce state-of-the-art lithium-ion battery cells is critical to Australia’s renewable energy economy meeting national demand, generating export income and securing supply chains,” says Rob Firzpatrick, CEO of Recharge Industries.

“Our factory, which we are building with the assistance of Accenture’s engineering and capital projects expertise and underpinned by C4V’s IP and battery technology, will create thousands of jobs and attract large-scale investment from key players in Australia, the Indo-Pacific region, and other parts of the world.”

Production of Australia’s first electric car battery factory is slated to start in the second half of 2023.