The growth of electric vehicle (EV) sales coupled with government incentives for clean energy manufacturing are spurring investments in EV battery manufacturing plants. These new investments into the North American EV battery supply chain are creating a region known as the “Battery Belt."
The Battery Belt is the name coined for battery manufacturing plants springing up in the Midwest and Southern regions of the U.S. to meet rising demand for EVs. With the transition to clean energy transportation, sales of electric cars in the United States increased 55% in 2022.
According to a Dallas Federal Reserve Bank report, planned investment in the enormous facilities - often referred to as gigafactories - devoted to the production of lithium-ion batteries exceeds $40 billion. As these planned EV battery plants come online, they are projected to increase North America’s battery manufacturing capacity from 55 Gigawatt-hours per year (GWh/year) in 2021 to nearly 1,000 GWh/year by 2030. This is enough production capacity to support the manufacture of roughly 10 to 13 million all-electric vehicles per year.
Aligned with the climate-protecting purpose of the clean energy EV batteries they produce, the gigafactories producing these batteries today are being constructed with insulated metal panels. As all-in-one air, water, vapor and thermal barriers, these wall systems can be installed quickly, keeping construction schedules moving while also reducing a building’s energy use and operational carbon by providing an airtight, highly efficient envelope.
SK Battery America, a leading developer of lithium-ion batteries for EVs, is a great example of this.
The company, which recently built two battery manufacturing plants in in Commerce, Georgia, selected Kingspan’s QuadCore® insulated metal panels to decrease the facilities’ energy use and carbon footprint. Airtight and highly efficient, Kingspan’s QuadCore insulated metal panels deliver unmatched thermal efficiency and a full air, water and vapor barrier. Kingspan’s panels also help facilitate the circular economy by utilizing recycled materials during the manufacturing process.
With a building envelope of 2.4 million square feet, SK battery plant was constructed with over 1 million square feet of Kingspan KS Micro-Rib insulated metal panels with QuadCore, Kingspan’s newest generation of insulation technology. Kingspan’s QuadCore insulation core is 11% more thermally efficient than conventional PIR and up to 60% more thermally efficient than PUR insulation cores.
With superior thermal performance and high R-values, Kingspan insulated metal panels reduce energy consumption and costs and help EV battery gigafactories like the SK battery plant reduce their energy and carbon footprints.
As more of these EV battery plants are planned, it is important to remember that how these plants are designed and built can play a key role in mitigating climate change just like the products they produce.