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On September 20, 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy selected 25 battery-sector projects across 14 states for more than $3 billion in proposed federal support. The projects cover lithium, manganese, nickel, graphite, silicon anodes, electrolytes, battery cells, long-duration storage and recycling.
The headline’s “25 startups” is imprecise: the list also includes subsidiaries and major industrial companies such as Honeywell, Dow, Cabot, Braskem and Albemarle. The money was not necessarily paid out on announcement day. These were selected projects entering award negotiations, with final contracting, matching funds, permitting, construction and customer qualification still required.
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What the federal battery funding announcement actually covered
DOE selected projects under two related programs: the Battery Materials Processing Grants program and the Battery Manufacturing and Recycling Grants program.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesThe programs are designed to expand U.S. capacity across the battery supply chain, including commercial-scale facility construction, demonstrations, retrofits and retooling. The specific grant program was funded through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also called the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, including Section 40207(c). It was not simply a direct appropriation from the Inflation Reduction Act, although both laws formed part of the broader U.S. industrial-policy effort.
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The published project amounts add up to approximately $3.187 billion. DOE generally describes the round as more than $3 billion or approximately $3.2 billion. Each figure refers to proposed federal cost shares, not necessarily the total cost of building the facilities.
DOE’s current program description says the portfolio is expected to support more than 8,000 construction jobs and 4,000 operating jobs once fully contracted. The original 2024 coverage cited an estimate of approximately 18,000 jobs, but that figure was not explained in the same way. The numbers should not be combined without knowing whether they count direct, indirect, construction or operating employment.
The complete list of 25 selected projects
The table below reproduces the companies, proposed federal shares, project focus and listed locations in the published selection table. “Proposed federal share” means the amount DOE identified for the project—not a company valuation, unrestricted startup capital or necessarily money already disbursed.
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| Company or project lead | Proposed federal share | Supply-chain segment | Listed location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Albemarle U.S. Inc. | $67 million | Lithium anodes | Charlotte, North Carolina region |
| American Battery Technology Co. | $150 million | Recycling | South Carolina |
| Ascend Elements | $125 million | Recovery and purification of graphite | Hopkinsville, Kentucky |
| Blue Whale Materials | $55 million | Recycling | Bartlesville, Oklahoma |
| Braskem America | $50 million | Polyethylene production | La Porte, Texas |
| Cabot Corporation | $50 million | Conductive additives | Van Buren Township, Michigan |
| Cirba Solutions | $200 million | Recycling | Columbia, South Carolina |
| Clarion Circular Solutions | $150 million | Recycling | Florence, South Carolina |
| Element 25 | $166 million | Manganese separation and processing | Baton Rouge, Louisiana area |
| EnerSys Advanced Systems | $198 million | Lithium-ion cell production | Piedmont, South Carolina |
| Forge Battery | $100 million | High-performance batteries | Morrisville, North Carolina |
| Form Energy | $150 million | Iron-air storage energy system | Weirton, West Virginia |
| Group14 Technologies | $200 million | Silicon anode production | Moses Lake, Washington |
| Honeywell International | $126 million | Electrolyte salt production | Geismar, Louisiana |
| Li Industries | $55 million | Recycling | Kettering, Ohio |
| Mitra Future Technologies | $100 million | Lithium-iron-phosphate production | Muskegon, Michigan |
| NanoGraf | $60 million | Silicon anode production | Flint, Michigan |
| Revecs Technologies | $145 million | Green nickel production | Champion and Gwen, Michigan |
| SKI U.S. | $150 million | Graphite production | Orangeburg, South Carolina |
| Solid Power Operating | $50 million | Sulfide-based solid electrolytes | Thornton, Colorado |
| South32 Hermosa | $166 million | Manganese production | Patagonia, Arizona |
| SWA Lithium | $225 million | Lithium carbonate | Louisville, Arkansas |
| TerraVolta Resources | $225 million | Lithium carbonate | Texarkana region |
| The Dow Chemical Company | $100 million | Carbonate solvent for electrolytes | U.S. Gulf Coast |
| Urbix | $124 million | Graphite production | Muscle Shoals, Alabama |
DOE’s count covers 14 states. A listed location may identify a planned project site or regional project area; it should not automatically be read as proof that a fully operating factory existed there.
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The largest proposed federal shares
- SWA Lithium: $225 million for lithium carbonate.
- TerraVolta Resources: $225 million for lithium carbonate.
- Cirba Solutions: $200 million for recycling.
- Group14 Technologies: $200 million for silicon anodes.
- EnerSys Advanced Systems: $198 million for lithium-ion cell production.
Those five projects represent approximately $1.045 billion, or about one-third of the table’s approximately $3.187 billion total. That concentration matters: the round was not an equal distribution among 25 small startups.
What parts of the battery supply chain are represented?
A battery supply chain includes much more than a finished cell. The selected projects span several stages:
Raw materials, refining and chemical processing
- SWA Lithium and TerraVolta Resources: lithium carbonate.
- Element 25: manganese separation and processing.
- South32 Hermosa: manganese production.
- Revecs Technologies: green nickel production.
- Albemarle: lithium anodes and related materials.
- Honeywell: electrolyte salts.
- Dow: carbonate solvent for electrolytes.
Graphite and silicon anodes
- Group14 Technologies and NanoGraf: silicon anode materials.
- SKI U.S. and Urbix: graphite production.
- Ascend Elements: recovery and purification of graphite.
Cathode and active materials
- Mitra Future Technologies: lithium-iron-phosphate production.
- Cabot: conductive additives.
- Braskem America: polyethylene production, tied to battery-material or component supply.
Cells and battery systems
- EnerSys Advanced Systems: lithium-ion cell production.
- Forge Battery: high-performance batteries.
- Solid Power Operating: sulfide-based solid electrolytes.
- Form Energy: iron-air storage systems for long-duration grid applications.
Recycling and circularity
- American Battery Technology Co.
- Blue Whale Materials
- Cirba Solutions
- Clarion Circular Solutions
- Li Industries
- Ascend Elements
Recycling projects can process end-of-life batteries, manufacturing scrap, black mass or other feedstocks. The exact economics depend on collection, transportation, fire-safety requirements, feedstock volume, battery chemistry, commodity prices and processing costs.
Why South Carolina and Michigan stand out
Contemporary coverage highlighted South Carolina, with five selected projects and approximately $850 million in proposed federal support, and Michigan, with four projects totaling approximately $355 million.
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The two states illustrate why battery investment tends to cluster. Existing automotive and chemical infrastructure, industrial sites, logistics, ports, trained workers, state incentives and proximity to customers can reduce the difficulty of building a new supply chain. But project counts and dollar totals should be interpreted as selected project locations, not proof that every planned facility was operating.
The broader list reaches Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Washington, West Virginia, Colorado, Arizona, Alabama, Ohio and Texas. That geographic spread reflects an attempt to develop a domestic network rather than place every stage of production in one region.
These are not all startups
The headline’s shorthand obscures important differences among the recipients. The list includes venture-backed or growth-stage specialists, established public or private industrial companies, subsidiaries and project-specific operating entities.
Honeywell International, The Dow Chemical Company, Cabot Corporation, Braskem America and Albemarle are not equivalent to an early-stage venture-backed startup. SKI U.S. is connected to a large South Korean battery group, while EnerSys Advanced Systems is also not the same type of recipient as a newly formed battery venture.
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That distinction matters financially. A large industrial company may have a different balance sheet, funding capacity, procurement network and risk profile from a startup that must raise its matching capital and finance an entire plant. The federal selection alone does not establish a company’s financial strength or guarantee that its project will be completed.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What is technologically distinctive?
The portfolio contains several different technology bets, but DOE selection is not proof of commercial viability, cost competitiveness or eventual completion.
- Form Energy’s iron-air system targets multi-day or long-duration grid storage rather than replacing lithium-ion batteries in passenger vehicles.
- Group14 and NanoGraf’s silicon anodes aim to increase energy density compared with conventional graphite, but silicon can expand during cycling and create degradation, cycle-life and manufacturing challenges.
- Solid Power’s sulfide electrolytes are associated with solid-state battery development. The project should not be described as proof that mass-market solid-state batteries have been commercialized.
- Mitra Future Technologies’ lithium-iron-phosphate materials pursue a chemistry valued for cost, safety and reduced reliance on nickel and cobalt, although LFP generally has lower energy density than some nickel-rich chemistries.
- Recycling projects seek to recover valuable materials and manufacturing inputs, potentially reducing dependence on imported feedstocks.
- Domestic lithium projects include conversion to lithium carbonate and other processing approaches. “Lithium production” does not necessarily mean conventional mining; extraction, direct processing and chemical conversion are different activities.
Selection is not the same as receiving cash
The funding process has several stages:
- DOE selects a project.
- DOE and the recipient negotiate the proposed award.
- The parties complete a final award or contract.
- The recipient supplies its required cost share and secures additional financing.
- The project obtains permits and builds or retrofits the facility.
- Equipment is installed and processes are scaled.
- Customers qualify the material, cells or systems.
- The facility reaches commercial production.
The DOE program page’s reference to jobs “once fully contracted” is an important qualification. It indicates that the selected amounts should not automatically be treated as fully contracted grants or money already received.
Federal support also does not remove the main industrial risks: permitting delays, construction inflation, financing shortfalls, technology scale-up, commodity-price swings, customer qualification and insufficient demand. A federal cost share is not the same thing as the total project budget, and it does not guarantee that the company can finance the rest.
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What the announcement means for U.S. supply-chain competition
The strategic objective was to reduce dependence on China-centered battery-material and component supply chains while building domestic capacity for electric vehicles and stationary storage. The projects address bottlenecks in anodes, cathode materials, electrolyte chemicals, cells, critical minerals and recycling.
Recycling is especially important because it can turn battery waste and manufacturing scrap into a domestic source of lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, graphite and other inputs. It is not an unlimited substitute for mining or refining: the industry still needs sufficient feedstock, safe collection and transport, reliable processing economics and customers willing to buy the recovered materials.
The policy goal is supply-chain resilience, not a guarantee that every selected process will be cheaper or more competitive than an established overseas alternative. By September 2026, the meaningful question is therefore not only how much DOE proposed, but which projects completed contracting, secured private capital, obtained permits, built facilities and delivered commercial output. The supplied public program information does not provide a verified company-by-company status for all 25 projects, so the selection list should not be presented as an operating-factory list.
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- Scale: Has the process moved beyond laboratory or pilot demonstrations?
- Customers: Is there an anchor customer, offtake agreement or automotive qualification?
- Capital: Can the company fund its matching share and construction overruns?
- Feedstock: Is there enough domestic mineral, scrap or manufacturing input?
- Cost: Can the output compete after subsidies and commodity-price changes?
- Technology: Does the process have defensible patents, know-how or supply contracts?
- Execution: Has the project obtained permits, reached construction and installed equipment?
- Policy exposure: Would changes in federal contracting, incentives or regulation affect the economics?
The award announcement is useful evidence of federal priority and project selection. It is not, by itself, evidence of a completed factory, a profitable company or a guaranteed investment return.
The Bottom Line
Bottom line: The September 2024 announcement selected 25 battery-sector projects across 14 states for approximately $3.2 billion in proposed federal cost shares. Its importance lies in the breadth of the supply chain covered—from lithium and graphite to cells, long-duration storage and recycling. But “selected” is not “funded and operating,” and “25 startups” is not an accurate description of the recipient roster. The ultimate test is whether these projects reach commercial scale and produce competitive domestic battery materials and systems.
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