Staff Report
Published Aug. 6, 2009

A battery materials manufacturer that says it plans to build a facility in Goose Creek has been awarded $35 million in federal stimulus grant money for the project.

The funding to Illinois-based Toda America is a portion of at least $50.1 million that will be flowing into South Carolina as part of the federal government’s plan to accelerate the manufacture and development of battery- and electric-powered vehicles.

According to a statement Wednesday from the White House, Toda America, another out-of-state company and one S.C. company were awarded grants they plan to use for investment in the state.

• Toda America Inc., which is based in Schaumburg, Ill., and produces materials for rechargeable hybrid vehicle batteries, will receive a grant worth $35 million that it will reportedly use to build a facility in Goose Creek. Toda America, the U.S. subsidiary of the Japanese company Toda Kogyo Corp., would make cathode material for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. Officials with Toda America had not responded to a request for information by press time.

• Charlotte-based Celgard LLC, which produces polymer separator material for lithium batteries, will receive a grant worth $49.2 million. Celgard will reportedly use that grant to expand its manufacturing capacity in Charlotte and to add a site in Aiken. The move is expected to create hundreds of jobs, some of which will be available beginning in the fall.

• Kemet Corp. is the only S.C.-based company to receive a grant. CEO Per Loof said Simpsonville-based Kemet will receive a grant worth $15.1 million to expand operations and create at least 110 jobs. Kemet produces capacitors used in the computer, telecommunication, automotive, military and aerospace, and medical industries, among others.

A total of $2.4 billion in grants funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will be distributed to fund 48 projects by 30 companies in 20 states, the White House reported. It is the single largest investment in advanced battery technology for hybrid and electric-drive vehicles ever made.

Industry officials expect that this $2.4 billion investment, coupled with another $2.4 billion cost share from the award winners, will result directly in the creation of tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs in the U.S. battery and auto industries.