DoE Awards Up To $120 Million For Battery Hub To Argonne-led Group

This is a partnership between world leading scientists and world-leading companies, committed to ensuring that the advanced battery technologies the world needs will be invented and built right here in America, said Secretary Chu.

This new Hub brings together, under a single organizational roof, the world's leading scientists, engineers and manufacturers in energy storage and provides them with the tools, resources and market reach necessary to produce major breakthroughs, said U.S. Senator Dick Durbin. The large-scale, innovative research and transformational new battery systems that will result from this venture will mean more effective, lower-cost and longer-life energy storage technologies with real-world applications for anything that can use a rechargeable battery.

Governor Quinn is providing $5 million through his Illinois Jobs Now! Capital construction plan to help build the state-of-the-art JCESR facility, which will be located on the Argonne National Laboratory campus in suburban Chicago. Additionally, the Governor has committed to working with the General Assembly to provide an additional $30 million in future capital funding for the building, which will serve as a nationwide center for energy storage research and is a key part of the governor's plan to create jobs and grow Illinois' economy through cutting-edge innovation.

The Hub will bring together some of the most advanced energy storage research programs in the U.S. today. Other national labs partnering with Argonne include Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. University partners include Northwestern University, University of Chicago, University of Illinois-Chicago, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, and University of Michigan. Four industrial partners have also joined to help clear a path to the marketplace for the advances developed at JCESR, including Dow Chemical Company; Applied Materials, Inc.; Johnson Controls, Inc.; and Clean Energy Trust.

Over the decades, DOE national laboratories and DOE-funded university research programs have been responsible for some of the most important advances in battery technology. For example, key battery improvements developed at Argonne helped make the Chevy Volt battery possible.