By Aleasha Sandley, Herald Bulletin
ANDERSON - The city's entrepreneurial spirit would make it a contender for the newly announced expansion of Indianapolis-based EnerDel lithium-ion battery producer, but Anderson is not on the company's short list yet, a regional economic development official said.
The process for determining the Indiana location of EnerDel's full-production battery operation has not begun, and Anderson is not considered a finalist, despite earlier published reports otherwise, said Roy Budd, executive director of Energize-ECI. The regional organization helps generate new business investment and expansion throughout the counties of east central Indiana.
EnerDel would, however, do well to consider Anderson for its new plant, Budd said.
"This type of project is a perfect fit for Anderson, Indiana, with the research (on lithium batteries) being done at the incubator (Flagship Enterprise Center)," he said.
The city is interested in pursuing EnerDel's business, Budd said, although Anderson economic development officials remain secretive about their efforts.
"We typically never comment on ongoing projects because those projects are very competitive," said Linda Dawson, executive director of Anderson's Economic Development Department.
Dawson, however, did say that reports that Anderson was a finalist in securing the EnerDel plant were "greatly overstated."
Budd has been working at getting EnerDel to locate somewhere in east central Indiana, with reports of both Anderson and Muncie vying for the company.
EnerDel still is in early discussions about what it is looking for in a location for its new plant, announced last week.
"I have not been privy to any information at this time," said Melissa Todd, vice president of Westcomm public relations firm, which represents EnerDel.
EnerDel, which produces lithium-ion batteries for hybrid vehicles, has had a research and development center in Indianapolis with about 70 employees. With a recent contract to produce batteries for an overseas Think car, the company decided to expand. It will add jobs in Indianapolis to total 317 and open a battery pack assembly center in Noblesville with 60 employees and a full-scale manufacturing center at the to-be-selected location, bringing 478 jobs there, said Mitch Frazier, media relations director at the Indiana Economic Development Corp.
"In the aggregate of the entire project, they were good paying jobs," Frazier said. "These are engineers, these are advanced manufacturing wages."
IEDC worked aggressively to keep EnerDel in the state, offering tax credits and grants, but the organization's job is not to steer the company toward any certain community, Frazier said.
The company will seek local incentive offers from Indiana communities for its third plant.
EnerDel plans to hire additional engineers, production associates and administrative staff later this year, according to an IEDC press release.