Advanced Battery Technology Finds Foothold in Chattanooga

Tyler Johnston

In just more than five years at NOVONIX, Harrison Kreafle has gone from working on a team of four people in a single warehouse to being part of a 100-person workforce across two sites in Chattanooga, including the 400,000-square-foot facility in Chattanooga’s Lookout Valley where he spends a majority of his days. 

“We are changing the landscape of energy storage in North America,” says Kreafle, who is director of anode technology for NOVONIX. “These materials don’t exist here – what we’re doing is unique and we’re some of the only people doing it, so it’s nice to get that success.” 

In his role, Kreafle is developing next generation lithium-ion battery anode materials and manufacturing processes to strengthen domestic production of critical battery resources. That means he dives deep into battery development and testing, working with raw materials to make the anode products customers request, tailored to meet their specifications. 

Big Names 

NOVONIX serves clients including major manufacturers like Stellantis and Panasonic. Developing the materials that go into the batteries that power our world is just part of the work, Kreafle says. The other part is developing domestic supply chains that will allow the U.S. to run on homegrown battery power. 

“If we’re building the batteries here, we need the rest of the supply chain, too,” Kreafle says. 

A major challenge is that China has been producing these technologies for a couple of decades and has a considerable head start – but NOVONIX is gaining ground fast. 

“From the raw materials to machines that refine and process and the labor and workforce development to train the people to run those processes, we’re building it from the ground up,” Kreafle says. 

NOVONIX

Getting Started 

Kreafle, a native of North Georgia, graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2016 with a degree in chemical engineering. After graduation, he came 120 miles north to Chattanooga for work, drawn by both the job opportunities and the natural landscape where he loves to hike and enjoy the outdoors in the Scenic City. 

“I love being able to go from downtown to a hiking trail in the wilderness in 15 minutes,” he says. 

In 2019, Kreafle was working in battery materials research when those efforts spun out, scaled and became standalone company NOVONIX. He started working for NOVONIX as part of a team of four in a single, 40,000-square-foot warehouse in Chattanooga in the beginning of 2020. 

“We were testing anode materials for batteries for companies all over the world and then started making our own materials,” Kreafle says. 

In those early days, the small team was building quickly and creatively, sometimes buying systems off eBay to do their feasibility trials. The work took off fast, and things have changed a lot since then. 

What’s Next

Now NOVONIX has two major facilities in Chattanooga, one in Lookout Valley and one in the Riverside Drive area, and a third planned for the Enterprise South Industrial Park. That new large-scale synthetic graphite manufacturing plant is expected to reach full production capacity by the end of 2028 and is anticipated to create 500 full-time jobs. 

In announcing the new facility, NOVONIX also announced the extension and expansion of its local partnership with Lookout Valley Middle High School, NOVONIX Institute of Advanced Battery Technology (NIABT). As part of Hamilton County Schools’ Future Ready Institutes, the NIABT provides career-focused learning aimed at equipping students with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in the battery industry and other STEM innovation fields. 

Helping prepare local students to be part of the work happening at NOVONIX is an important part of developing not just the battery technologies of the future, but the domestic supply chains that can foster energy independence. 

“As our work is expanding, I know ultimately when I see an electric vehicle driving down the road, I’ll be able to know our materials made that happen,” Kreafle says.