Toda America breaks ground for battery materials plant in Michigan

Toda America Inc. on April 19 officially broke ground for its first U.S. manufacturing facility to produce lithium-ion cathode materials for battery cells for electric drive vehicles. The new $70 million facility is being built on an 18-acre brownfield redevelopment site in Battle Creek, Mich. This project is supported by a competitive grant awarded to Toda by the U.S. Department of Energy under the Recovery Act – Electric Device Vehicle Battery and Component Manufacturing Initiative. Toda America is now a joint venture between Toda Kogyo Corp. and ITOCHU Corporation through a transaction completed last month.

Toda America plans to build its manufacturing plant of cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries in step-wise fashion to meet the demand of its battery manufacturing customers located in Michigan and nearby states. Phase 1 is scheduled for operation in 2011, and Phase 2 expansion is expected to be completed in 2013, reaching its full manufacturing capacity of 4,000 tons of finished product per year. The total sales volume based on the full capacity operation at the facility will be around $130 million. The project is expected to add 50 to 60 direct new high-tech manufacturing jobs, and up to a total 148 new jobs including 91 indirect jobs according to the MEDC.

"This is an important manufacturing investment in our quest to maintain our global leadership as the premier supplier of battery materials around the world, and now as a key local supply chain partner to the rapidly growing U.S. battery industry," said Tadashi Kubota, managing director of Toda Kogyo Group.

In parallel with the award contract with DOE, the Toda America project is supported by the State of Michigan and the City of Battle Creek with economic development incentives related to high-tech jobs creation and brownfield redevelopment. ITOCHU Corporation, a global trading company, brings additional strengths to the venture, providing expertise in management, finance and sales; complementing Toda's strengths in R&D and manufacturing.