Startup Lunar Energy is the latest example. The six-year-old company, which builds battery packs for homeowners in California, Georgia, and Washington, said Wednesday it has completed two large funding rounds. The startup shared it raised a previously unannounced $130 million Series C and a $102 million Series D. The Series C was led by Activate Capital, while the Series D was led by B Capital and Prelude Ventures.
Two years ago, a $575 million battery factory planned in St. Louis, Missouri, was set to be the first large-scale lithium iron phosphate (LFP) facility in the U.S. This November, after the Trump administration withdrew a grant for the project, it was cancelled -becoming one of more than 50 major clean energy projects to be scrapped or scaled back in 2025.
The plant is producing hybrid batteries for factories in Kentucky and a Mazda and Toyota joint venture in Alabama. Over the next five years, we are planning an additional investment of $10bn in the US to further grow our manufacturing capabilities, bringing our total investment in this country to over $60bn, said Ted Ogawa, president of Toyota Motor North America.
"If you want to raise wages for American workers, you can't flood the country with with tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, of foreign workers," she said. "I agree, but you also do have to bring in talent," Trump said. "We have plenty of talented people" in the U.S. "No, you don't, no you don't ... you don't have certain talents, and people have to learn," Trump said.
Norfolk, Virginia based Mutant Inc. are stepping up their game to fill the new supply chain void created by tariffs. With departing Chinese suppliers no longer able to compete due to the reciprocal tariffs, Mutant Inc. is taking over supplying batteries and other energy solutions for clients old and new, which may include such entities as Stanley Black & Decker (NYSE: SWK), international telecom companies, major utilities, and others.
In this role, you will take large-scale manufacturing systems for new battery products and architectures from the early concept development stage through equipment launch, optimization, and handover to local operations teams. Battery development is at the heart of our company, and this is an exciting opportunity to work directly on the central challenges for the all-new Roadster product architecture while still in its early development stages,
At the heart of QuantumScape's appeal is its anode-free lithium-metal architecture. It replaces liquid electrolytes with a ceramic separator, boosting energy density to 500 Wh/kg, double that of current lithium-ion packs. Proof arrived in September's real-world motorcycle demo, where a QS cell operated flawlessly for hours without overheating or degradation. The true breakthrough, however, is manufacturing: This summer's "Cobra" upgrade ramps separator production 25-fold, positioning the company to shift from prototypes to gigafactory-scale output by early 2027.
