Department of War drafts EV battery factory into military drone duty with $75M grant

As if to prove that there may not be money for universal childcare or nationalized healthcare but there is ALWAYS more money for war, the US Department of War has awarded Amprius a $75 million grant to convert a civilian EV battery production line to churn out high-energy-density batteries for military drones.

When California-based battery developer Amprius Technologies received a $15 million order for its innovative lithium-ion cells from an anonymous customer back in 2024, all the company would say was that the buyer was a, “leading Unmanned Aircraft System manufacturer.” We still don’t know who that mysterious customer might have been, but we know this: there’s enough demand for Amprius’ energy-dense batteries that DoW is willing to spend $75 million to draft a civilian factory originally designed to build zero-emission electric cars into drone duty.

The grant itself will see the conversion of an existing US-based electric vehicle battery production line operated by, “a major South Korean manufacturer” through a grant awarded through DoW’s Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment Program (IBAS).

IBAS provides funds to shore up domestic manufacturing capabilities it deems critical to national security and defense, with the official copy cexplaining that, “the primary objective of this award is to establish high-volume, commercially viable US manufacturing for advanced battery systems that power unmanned aerial systems – Group 1, 2, and 3 drones.”

It keeps on getting Skynet-ier

Because we haven’t learned anything at all from The Terminator franchise, we’re now writing a story about putting 75 million tax dollars (plus $25 million more from “other sources,” by the way) into a battery supply chain for increasingly capable, at least partly autonomous military flying machines mere days after Figure’s F.02 humanoid robots gave us a decidedly T2 “hasta la vista, baby” send off that the robots will surely remember when it comes time to enact their unholy revenge on humanity.

Or, as Amprius CEO, Tom Stepien put it, “This DoW grant is intended to establish a primary source of domestic, NDAA-compliant battery production,” before adding that, “our technology, combined with the US manufacturing prowess of our South Korean manufacturing partner, positions us to accelerate adoption of standardized, high-performance pouch cells in a fast-growing market.”

The modified line expands Amprius’ existing contract manufacturing relationships and significantly increases the ability of the Company to provide NDAA-compliant pouch cells for key customers at scale. Completion of the conversion is planned for early 2028, the line is expected to have the capacity to produce 12 million Amprius cells annually.

SOURCE | IMAGE: Amprius, via NASDAQ.

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