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LPO Announces Conditional Commitment to Aspen Aerogels to Produce Aerogel Blankets and Improve Electric Vehicle Battery Safety
As part of the Biden-Harris administration’s Investing in America agenda, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) announced a conditional commitment for a direct loan of up to $670.6 million to Aspen Aerogels Georgia, LLC (Aspen Aerogels). The loan, if finalized, will help finance the construction of an aerogel blanket manufacturing facility in Register, Georgia. Aspen’s PyroThin® aerogel thermal barriers are used as a protective layer within electric vehicle (EV) batteries, enabling EV manufacturers to achieve critical battery safety goals.
Operating at full capacity, the Georgia factory is expected to supply thermal barriers for over 2 million vehicle batteries annually. The incremental fuel savings is equivalent to removing over 5,000 internal combustion engine vehicles from the road each year and enables a reduction of over 8,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent annually. The facility would significantly expand EV thermal barrier manufacturing capacity in North America, helping to reinforce the domestic EV supply chain while delivering new economic opportunities for workers in Georgia. This project also supports the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to expand and secure reliable, environmentally sustainable domestic supply chains key to reaching the country’s ambitious climate goals while reducing reliance on economic competitors like China.
Aspen’s PyroThin® platform offers ultra-thin and lightweight thermal barriers designed to slow or prevent thermal runaway propagation, a rare event in which a battery cell overheats and triggers neighboring cells, possibly resulting in a fire. PyroThin® is designed to offer a unique combination of thermal management, mechanical performance, and fire protection properties. In the event a battery cell fails, PyroThin® protects neighboring cells from being thermally triggered to avoid a significant fire.