EV Magnet Factory Attracts $59M for Construction
The first U.S. facility of its kind will make enough product to power 500,000 million vehicles a year.
MP Materials has obtained a $58.5 million award to advance construction on the first fully integrated rare earth magnet manufacturing facility in the U.S. The developer broke ground on the Fort Worth, Texas, development in April 2022.
The IRS and Treasury issued the Section 48C Advanced Energy Project tax credit allocation after the Department of Energy conducted an evaluation of approximately 250 projects, assessing their technical and commercial viability, as well as their environmental and community impact.
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The 200,000-square-foot property is part of MP’s plan to invest $700 million over the next two years in restoring the U.S. rare earth magnetics supply chain. Located within the 27,000-acre AllianceTexas development, the facility is expected to produce magnets powering approximately 500,000 EV motors per year.
The company is currently producing magnet precursor materials in a pilot facility in North America. The firm plans to start commercial production of precursor materials in Fort Worth this summer and finished magnets by late 2025.
General Motors, MP’s foundational customer, will receive the product supplies to bolster its North American EV production. Demand for neodymium-iron-boron magnets is expected to triple by 2035 according to MP. They are used in the electric motors and generators that power hybrid and electric vehicles, robots, wind turbines and drones.
EV sector sees major growth in the U.S.
In 2023, sales of new electric vehicles grew to 7.6 percent of the overall market, considerably higher than 2022’s 5.9 percent and the 3.2 percent registered in 2021, according to research by J.D. Power.
In November last year, Toyota invested $8 billion in its North Carolina EV battery manufacturing plant, bringing the total sum to $14 billion. Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina will produce batteries for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and battery electric vehicles using 100 percent renewable energy.
A few months earlier, Hyundai Motor Group partnered with LG Energy Solutions for the construction of a $4.3 billion battery production plant near Savannah, Ga. The joint venture expects to start battery production at the new facility by late 2025.
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