A manufacturer of lithium iron phosphate batteries is looking at Colorado Springs as a potential site for a production facility.
The Colorado Economic Development Commission last week approved up to $1,987,193 in performance-based Job Growth Incentive Tax Credits over an eight-year period for the undisclosed company under the code name Project Hawk. In addition to the Springs, the company is considering other sites in Colorado, including Aurora and Fort Collins, as well as in New York and Oregon.
Project Hawk, should it occur in the Springs, expects to create 178 net new jobs at an average annual wage of $75,938, just above the average annual wage of all Colorado. The jobs would include electricians, technicians, engineers and people in marketing and sales. The company currently has 350 employees; none are in Colorado.
The company, according to a summary by the Colorado Economic Development Commission, is looking to serve the expanding Northern American market by supplying batteries for vehicles and energy storage systems for various applications, such as powering small rural housing settlements.
An August article in Forbes tagged lithium phosphate iron batteries as “the next big thing in EV batteries. They already account for the majority of EV batteries in China, according to the article, and are now making inroads in North America. Tesla adopted the technology in 2021.
Project Hawk, the commission states, “would support the state’s economic goals by catering directly to Colorado’s ambitious CO2 emission reduction goals — enabling a cleaner, more sustainable energy future. … In addition, the establishment of a battery production facility will attract numerous suppliers due to its unique demands.”
The commission also approved incentives for three other manufacturing companies:
• Up to $3,917,590
