Phillips 66 purchases $150M worth of shares in battery materials company NOVONIX
Looking to boost its presence in the battery industry, Phillips 66 announced this week that it would purchase $150 million worth of shares in the lithium-ion battery materials manufacturer NOVONIX Limited.
“This strategic investment enables Phillips 66 to directly support the development of the U.S. battery supply chain,” Greg Garland, chairman and CEO of Phillips 66, said. “It advances our commitment to pursue lower-carbon solutions while leveraging our leadership position and expertise in the specialty coke market and supporting NOVONIX’s emerging position in U.S.-based anode production.”
The strategic investment will give Phillips a 16 percent stake in the Australia-based NOVONIX and a director seat on its Board. The investment is being pushed by Phillips 66’s Emerging Energy organization, which seeks to build it a lower-carbon business platform. In addition to bolstering Phillips 66’s share of the battery supply chain, the move will also boost NOVONIX’s production of synthetic graphite, which is used in high-performance lithium-ion batteries.
“We’re excited by Phillips 66’s vision for a sustainable future and confidence in our business plan and management team,” Dr. Chris Burns, NOVONIX CEO and co-founder, said. “Phillips 66’s investment will provide us with the capital needed to support growth and ongoing R&D as we continue to scale our synthetic graphite production and develop new technologies for higher-performance energy storage applications.”
Phillips 66 already produced specialty coke, a key item for the production of batteries used for electric vehicles, personal electronics, medical devices, and energy storage units. NOVONIX factors in as a processor of specialty coke, which it uses to make high-performance anode material for such batteries. Its anode materials business resides in Chattanooga, Tennessee, working to churn out as much as 10,000 metric tons of synthetic graphite per year by 2023.
The investment from Phillips will allow NOVONIX to boost capacity at its Tennessee production operations by another 30,000 metric tons per year by 2025.
However, the final transaction is subject to approval by NOVONIX shareholders, among other closing conditions.
