Anthro Energy broke ground Tuesday on a battery materials factory in Louisville, Kentucky, with capacity to produce 25 gigawatt-hours of electrolytes annually, enough for more than 300,000 electric vehicles. The facility, slated to begin production in 2028, is designed to supply U.S. battery makers with electrolytes free of materials controlled by Chinese companies, addressing what the industry calls “foreign entity of concern” issues. Co-founder and CEO David Mackanic said the location puts the plant within a 12-hour drive of 70 percent of existing U.S. battery production facilities, positioning it as a key hub for the domestic supply chain.
The project received $24.9 million from the Department of Energy under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, $18.4 million in investment tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act, and $2.3 million in tax incentives from Kentucky in exchange for creating 110 permanent jobs. Anthro, which raised its first funding round four years ago, will initially make a range of electrolyte formulations but aims to shift most output to its own polymer product, Proteus. Mackanic noted that Proteus is designed to drop into existing production lines with minimal changes, allowing customers to validate the material before Anthro scales it up.
Proteus could help enable solid-state and semi-solid-state batteries, which the battery industry has long pursued as a major improvement over current lithium-ion technology. Solid-state batteries offer higher energy density, reduce fire risk by eliminating flammable electrolytes, and prevent dendrites - spiky growths that can cause short circuits - by forming a solid barrier between the anode and cathode. However, no company has yet figured out how to manufacture durable solid-state cells cost-effectively at scale, and Chinese firms are reportedly aiming to start trial production of such batteries in 2027.
Anthro’s approach involves an electrolyte that flows into the cell as a liquid, penetrating the anode and cathode like today’s liquid electrolytes, then firms up to essentially glue the battery’s parts together. Mackanic said the resulting cell can be 10 to 15 times stronger than one with liquid electrolyte, and depending on formulation, flexible as well. He envisions these properties benefiting not just electric vehicles but also drones and robots.
Many battery materials startups have failed when moving from small-scale to large-scale production, a phase often called the valley of death. Mackanic expressed optimism that federal funding will help Anthro cross that gap, saying that large applications require large production volumes and that the Department of Energy award resolves much of the chicken-or-egg problem. The company’s success could hinge on whether its customers adopt Proteus after initial trials, but the factory’s ability to serve domestic, high-spec customers with China-free supply is clear from the start.
