Ohio could soon be the beneficiary of a new electric car battery factory and the 1,000 skilled-manufacturing jobs that come with it, but the technology was developed in China and the plant would be operated by a Chinese company. 

CODA, a California-based electric car and battery company, is planning to open a battery factory in central Ohio.  Its partner, Chinese-based Tianjin Lishen Battery, would be the majority shareholder.  The Chinese state-owned oil company, CNOOC, is also an investor in the project. 

The companies already operate a one million-square-foot facility in Tianjin, China, which has the capacity to produce up to 20,000 electric batteries per year.  CODA, is interested in opening an American facility because of the high cost of shipping those batteries back to the U.S. where the cars are set to be manufactured.   

CODA hopes to produce 14,000 domestically by the end of next year.  Starting out, the electric sedans will only be available for sale in California. 

The plans are not finalized, however.  The Ohio factory will be dependent on whether or not CODA can secure a federal government loan along with an incentive package from the state. 
The electric automaker is seeking a loan of over $400 million from the federal government through a $25 billion Department of Energy program.  The competition will be stiff, however, with over 100 companies seeking loans through the program. 
Last year, the company abandoned plans to build a Connecticut facility after it was unable to secure a loan through the federal stimulus package.  

“Construction of the facility is contingent upon finalizing an incentive package with the state of Ohio and the approval of an application for a Department of Energy Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan to be submitted soon,” the company said in a statement. 

The company is considering several sites in central, Ohio, with downtown Columbus being one of those.

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