The CEO of Eos Energy on Thursday discussed the battery-making company bringing its manufacturing back to the U.S. several years ago and competing with China with FOX Business’ Jeff Flock.
Eos Energy brought the manufacturing of its “long duration energy storage (LDES) systems” back to the U.S. from China in 2018. The battery maker now produces its batteries in Turtle Creek, a city located in Pennsylvania’s Monongahela Valley.
“We not only innovated this product in the U.S., but we’ve always believed we can build it in the U.S., and we’ve proven that to be true,” Eos Energy CEO Joe Mastrangelo told Flock when asked about relocating the company’s manufacturing and competing with China. “We can still build things in the U.S.”
The LDES systems that Eos Energy produces are zinc-based.
“It’s basically a water-based electrolyte, so it’s a nonflammable battery,” Mastrangelo explained.
“What you’re seeing here moving on the line is every 10 seconds a battery comes off the line,” the Eos Energy CEO told Flock. “This product, it’s safe, it’s simple. Everything’s a core commodity that’s used in other industries. There’s no rare earths in the battery, no precious metals, and it’s flexible.”
He explained Eos Energy’s batteries store power “when there’s excess supply” and “deliver it on the grid” when the demand “comes online.”
The battery maker brought jobs back to the area when it relocated its manufacturing to the U.S. and has since expanded its workforce, according to Mastrangelo.
“(In) 2019, we had two people,” he told Flock. “Today, we have 500 people here in the facility building batteries.”
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During the interview, he reiterated that innovation can help companies manufacturing in the U.S. compete with China.
“We can invent in the U.S.,” Mastrangelo said. “And then you go out, and you train a workforce. Like, our qualifications to get a job at Eos is a willingness to work, and that’s what we found in the Mon Valley.”
The company landed a loan worth over $303 million from the Department of Energy in early December. That loan will help “fund the expansion of Eos’ manufacturing capacity to 8 gigawatt-hours by 2027 to meet the growing demand for longer-duration battery energy storage systems,” the company said at the time.
Funds from the loan will enable Eos Energy to add more manufacturing lines to its Turtle Creek factory, according to the company.
Later in December, the company said it was looking for a site to house another battery-making plant. The search for that location will “focus on regions with strong infrastructure close to customer demand, access to skilled labor and economic incentives that align with Eos’ values of clean energy innovation and American-made manufacturing,” according to a press release.
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