CODA, a California-based electric car and battery company, announced today its plans to build an automotive-grade lithium-ion battery system manufacturing facility in Ohio.
CODA is considering several sites within Ohio for the facility, which could employ more than 1,000 skilled manufacturing workers initially.
Construction of the facility is contingent upon finalizing an incentive package with the state of Ohio and the approval of an application for a Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan (ATVM) to be submitted soon.
Lio Energy Systems, a joint venture between CODA and Lishen Power Battery, would operate the facility. Lio Energy Systems currently operates a one-million square foot facility in Tianjin, China with the production capacity to produce more than 20,000 battery packs per year.
The proposed facility in Ohio would replicate this facility. CODA will be the majority and control shareholder of the U.S. venture. Over the weekend, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke toured the facility during the Obama administration’s first cabinet-level trade mission in China.
Headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif., CODA Automotive is an all-electric car and battery company. The company was launched last June as an offshoot of Miles Electric Vehicles, which makes neighborhood electric vehicles for fleets.
