EV battery maker nets $236.6M in tax incentives for Wayne County plant

The Michigan Strategic Fund board on Wednesday approved a $200 million state grant and other incentives for Novi-based Our Next Energy or ONE to invest $1.6 billion on a battery manufacturing plant in Van Buren Township.

The project is expected to create 2,112 new jobs. The $1.6 billion investment by ONE may include up to $30 million of capital investment at its Novi facility.

The MSF board of the Michigan Economic Development Corp. signed off on giving ONE a $200 million grant that will come from the state's Critical Industry Program funded by the recently created Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve (SOAR) to attract economic development.

The board also approved a State Essential Services Assessment Exemption for $21.6 million to support investments at the project related to more than $986 million in eligible personal property investment for the project. The company also received a $15 million Jobs for Michigan Investment Fund Loan for short-term construction financing that will be complete at the end of 2022.

"In using a newly developed cell factory model at this facility, Our Next Energy or ONE will be instrumental in developing a North American raw materials supply chain right here in Michigan," MEDC CEO Quentin L. Messer Jr. told media ahead of Wednesday's meeting.

Founded in 2020, ONE develops battery packs for commercial and consumer EVs. The ONE Circle facility it plans to construct in Van Buren Township will be its first cell and EV battery pack factory. The company expects to scale the campus to 20 gigawatt hours of capacity in four years. The campus will have raw material refinement, cathode materials production along with cell and battery manufacturing.

The cells manufactured at ONE Circle will be used in two of the company's pack products: Aries and Gemini.

Aries is in product development and samples have been delivered to four of ONE’s customers, including California-based Motiv Power Systems, which makes medium-duty Class 4 to 6 commercial battery-electric trucks and buses. ONE plans to launch Aries production at the end of 2022 at partner Piston Automotive's facility in Michigan.

"We currently have seven customers that have signed supply agreements with our company including one major U.S. company that is working with us to be the first customer of this cell factory," ONE CEO Mujeeb Ijaz told the MSF board on Wednesday. "Beyond doing the packs that we've developed, this cell factory will have a range of customers including the major automotive companies now taking interest in working with ONE."

In addition to its 110,000 square foot Michigan headquarters, ONE has a development facility in Los Angeles and a research and development center in Silicon Valley.

Tony Tomczak, DTE's vice president of electric sales and marketing. said the energy provider is "ecstatic" to have ONE in its service territory.

DTE is "fully behind our partners at ONE," he said.

The company conducted two site selection studies, evaluating 12 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces before settling on Michigan for the investment, according to a memorandum on the project for the MSF board.

The memorandum states that the request for support will "appropriately and necessarily address the cost disadvantage of locating the project in Michigan when compared to competing U.S. states and Canadian provinces, which also provided competitive incentive offers."

khall@detroitnews.com

Twitter:@bykaleahall