$362 Million Loan to CelLink to Support Domestic Manufacturing of Key Electric Vehicle Supply Chain Components – CleanTechnica

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When Finalized, Loan Will Support New Manufacturing of EV Production Technology at Texas Plant—Creating More Than 1,300 Good-Paying Jobs and Supporting President Biden’s Efforts to Build a Clean Transportation Future

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) through its Loan Programs Office (LPO) today announced the closing of a $362 million loan to CelLink Corporation (CelLink) to help finance the construction of a domestic manufacturing facility that will produce components essential to electric vehicle (EV) assembly. Located in Georgetown, Texas, the facility will develop lighter and more efficient flexible circuit wiring harnesses—sets of wires and related equipment that relay information and carry electricity throughout vehicles. Once fully operational, the facility is expected to produce enough wiring harnesses to support the manufacture of approximately 2.7 million EVs per year and create 165 construction jobs and more than 1,200 permanent jobs. Today’s announcement reinforces the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to building a clean energy future and helping ensure the United States can meet the expected future demand for EV adoption, which has seen unprecedented progress under President Biden.

“EV sales have quadrupled since President Biden took office, reaching historic levels just last year and projected to hit new records for 2024, underscoring why it’s essential for the United States to harness manufacturing of all the key EV components,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “America will take the lead on building the guts of the vehicle of the future, advancing new technology to improve EV efficiency and build up the next generation auto workforce—all thanks to the President’s Investing in America agenda.”

CelLink’s domestically produced circuit wiring harnesses, called “flex harnesses,” are lighter, smaller, quicker to produce, and are expected to be less expensive than conventional wiring harnesses. Most wire harness production for the U.S. market currently occurs in countries with low labor costs due to the complex processes associated with traditional wire harness assembly. CelLink’s flex harnesses addresses this shortcoming and help enable domestic manufacturing of these components through new, lower-cost proprietary technology. The flat design of CelLink’s flex harnesses can reduce vehicle weight, provide better heat dissipation for improved propulsion system efficiency, and lower vehicle manufacturing costs.

Currently operating a manufacturing facility in San Carlos, California, CelLink has produced wiring harnesses for over a million vehicles already on the road. To keep up with rising demand, the company is now building a new facility in Texas to increase its production capacity. Once completed, the new Texas facility will be able to operate up to 25 manufacturing lines.

As part of President Biden’s efforts to build an equitable and inclusive clean energy future, LPO borrowers are also expected to develop and ultimately implement a comprehensive Community Benefits Plan that ensures meaningful community and labor engagement. This effort also advances President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which set the goal that 40% of overall benefits of certain federal climate, clean energy, and other investment areas also flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution. Georgetown, Texas, is identified as disadvantaged communities using the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool.

LPO works with all borrowers to create good-paying jobs with strong labor standards during construction, operations, and throughout the life of the loan. To recruit for operations jobs, CelLink is developing partnerships with nearby Fort Cavazos, Austin Regional Manufacturing Association, Georgetown Independent School District, Texas State Technical College, Austin Community College, and Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area. CelLink plans to provide competitive wages and health benefits to full-time hires.

CelLink’s technology, now in demand in the EV and general automotive markets, has applications across numerous other industries, including aviation, aerospace, consumer electronics, and appliances. CelLink originally developed the flex harness for use in solar panels. Nearly a decade ago, DOE’s Solar Energy Technologies Office provided early support for CelLink’s applied research and development for the manufacture of its innovative high-conductance flexible circuits.

This loan supports President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to onshore and re-shore domestic manufacturing of technologies that are critical to reaching a clean energy-powered transportation future. LPO, leveraging additional loan authority provided by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, is spurring billions in critical investments that will boost the nation’s competitiveness, strengthen supply chains, and create good-paying jobs to power the clean energy economy.

This announcement is the latest Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) loan, demonstrating DOE’s commitment to building a strong domestic supply chain for EV manufacturing. With several recent ATVM projects securing loans or conditional commitments in the last year, DOE is helping to achieve the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal that half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 are zero-emissions vehicles.

Across all of LPO’s programs, DOE has attracted 203 active applications for projects across the country totaling over $262.2 billion in requested loans and loan guarantees, as of March 2024. For more information about CelLink and its plans to strengthen the domestic EV supply chain, read the conditional commitment blog post and visit LPO’s portfolio project page.

News item from U.S. DOE. Featured image from CelLink.