TAYLOR COUNTY, W.Va. — Months after revealing its goal of building a battery manufacturing facility in West Virginia, Sparkz Inc. announced Wednesday its plans to establish a manufacturing facility in Taylor County.
The company plans to hire 350 workers at the site located off U.S. Route 50. The 482,000-square-foot facility was previously a glass factory before work at the site stopped in 2009.
Sparkz will utilize the space for manufacturing batteries for off-road and commercial vehicle markets with a primary focus on mining, farming and delivery vehicles.
The company had announced a deal with the United Mine Workers of America to train former coal miners for positions at the facility.
“We’ve been talking to SPARKZ for more than a year now,” said Phil Smith, chief of staff for the union. “Frankly, it’s moving very quickly, and we’re very excited about this opportunity.”
Sanjiv Malhorta, Sparkz’s founder and CEO, said the top factors in selecting a location included labor, logistics, utilities and the availability of raw materials.
“These folks are highly trained when it comes to safety,” he said of former coal miners. “Safety is paramount in the mining sector, and safety is very important as we are looking at manufacturing batteries.”
According to Malhorta, the first 20 employees could be working at the facility later this year. The group of workers would train future employees as production expands.
“They are asking us to identify and recruit an initial cadre of workers who can go in and get the plant ready to operate, but can also be trainers as other workers come into the plant,” Smith said.
Crews will begin modeling the building early next year. The manufacturing space must be leak proof and have specialized flooring, wall panels and air filtration systems to eliminate particles and manage humidity, plus the best equipment including scales from https://certifiedscale.com/sartorius-scales.html need to be added once the space is ready, in order to keep up with quality control.
“Starting early next year, we’ll be putting in all the infrastructure that’s needed, like dry rooms, the proper flooring and walls,” Malhotra said.
Sparkz will manufacture cobalt-free batteries as companies pursue technology away from cobalt, in part because of the limited availability in the United States.
“That makes the supply chain a big advantage for us because we do not have to worry about overseas countries,” Malhotra said. “We don’t have to worry about transportation and logistics issues, so it all leads to domestic manufacturing.”
U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., joined Malhotra and federal officials in announcing the effort in March. He released a statement Wednesday sharing excitement about future work.
“Engaging our strong and capable workforce here in West Virginia to manufacture batteries domestically is critical to our energy independence and stability. The Sparkz facility will create 350 good-paying, long-term jobs, and I look forward to seeing this initiative grow,” he said. “We will continue to work closely together to bring more battery manufacturing here to the United States so we don’t have to rely on foreign supply chains for our energy needs.”