Battery maker Natron closes shop, killing plans for 1,000 jobs in North Carolina
The maker of sodium-ion batteries failed to raise funding from investors or sales, so it decided to close facilities in Michigan and California. Plans for a $1.4 billion factory in the Rocky Mount area are also dead, state officials said.
Natron Energy, the California battery maker that last year announced plans to build a $1.4 billion factory in Edgecombe County, ceased operations Wednesday — a blow to the Rocky Mount area, which was expecting the project to create more than 1,000 jobs.
The 13-year-old maker of industrial sodium-ion batteries had been seeking additional funding or sales to stay in business. But those efforts failed, and Natron didn’t have enough cash to continue operations, the company said in a letter to labor officials in Michigan, where it operated a manufacturing facility.
The company said it is permanently closing its existing manufacturing facility in Holland, Michigan, and its operations at its headquarters in Santa Clara, California, laying off about 95 employees. The cuts were effective Wednesday, according to the letter, which was filed to comply with federal laws notifying states of forthcoming mass layoffs.
The company’s plans for North Carolina are also dead, state officials said. North Carolina Commerce Secretary Lee Lilley called it a disappointment.
He, said in a statement:
It stood to create 1,000 good paying jobs in a growing industry,
He, added:
It’s unfortunate Natron will not be able to proceed with their plans.
A Natron representative didn’t respond to a request for more information. A notice on the company’s website referred visitors to California business advisory firm Sherwood Partners. A representative of Sherwood didn’t respond to a request for more information about the closures.
Natron had been seeking capital from existing and potential new investors as well as new purchase orders from viable customers to stave off the closures, but it abandoned those efforts late last month.
Elizabeth Shober, Natron’s head of team and talent, said in the letter to Michigan officials,
Natron’s board of directors determined that Natron’s efforts to raise sufficient new funding were unsuccessful, having failed to result in sufficient funding proceeds to cover the required additional working capital and operational expenses of the business required to support execution of any purchase orders received by Natron,
The company’s proposed $1.4 billion Edgecombe County facility was expected to be one of the biggest eastern North Carolina economic development deals in recent years, and one of the latest to bolster the state’s roster of clean-energy companies.
State officials approved an incentives package worth up to $56.3 million for the project, which was projected to grow the state’s economy by more than $3.4 billion over 12 years. No payments have been made to the company, according to a Commerce spokesman. Companies must meet hiring and investment targets before they receive payments through state jobs grants.
It’s at least the second project to flop at the 400-acre Kingsboro site, which has been reserved for economic development. Seven years ago, Chinese tire maker Triangle Tyre said it would build a $580 million manufacturing facility at the site, which sits between Tarboro and Rocky Mount, where it planned to create about 800 jobs. The company canceled the project in 2022, citing a change in strategy to focus on its operations in China. The withdrawal came amid a trade dispute between China and the U.S.
Economic developers are still bullish on the site. Large swaths of land are harder to find in this fast-growing state, and across the country. So state and local officials across North Carolina have worked hard to assemble property and prepare turn-key “megasites” capable of handling major industrial projects.
Lilley, said in his statement:
The Kingsboro megasite is one of the top megasites in the country,
“and we will be aggressive in marketing this location to great companies across the globe.”
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Battery maker Natron closes shop, killing plans for 1,000 jobs in North Carolina, source
