Energy

Missouri is Home to the Future of Energy

Missouri is home to leading developers and producers of batteries from the defense, space, automotive, and consumer industries.

Our batteries power NASA’s space program, including NASA’s InSight Lander, which is currently on the surface of Mars. You could say Missouri powers the space program.

We have assets hidden below the surface as well.

Missouri is the leading producer of lead for batteries in the U.S. and is home to what is likely the largest cobalt reserve in North America. Cobalt is an indispensable raw material for a wide variety of highly sophisticated processed materials including superalloys, hard metals, cemented carbides, catalysts, pigments, permanent magnets, and food additives. It’s also an indispensable raw material for the mixed metal oxide cathode powders used in all high-energy lithium-ion batteries.

Missouri’s low cost of energy, combined with low cost of living and doing business, positions Missouri as a prime location for manufacturers in the energy sector. The state’s location and extensive logistics infrastructure make it simple and efficient to ship energy-related products around the world.

Missouri ranks 4th for battery manufacturing industry employment and 5th for revenue.

Missouri Talent Has the Energy and Knowledge You Need

Missouri talent and Missouri’s research centers are leading the way in energy storage development. Our centers of excellence include:

The Center for Research in Energy and Environment at Missouri S&T
The Center for Physical and Power Electronics at University of Missouri
EaglePicher Lithium Ion Center of Excellence in Joplin
Missouri Center for Advanced Power Systems (MOCAP) at Missouri Southern State University
Thomas J. O’Keefe Institute for Sustainable Supply of Strategic Minerals at Missouri S&T

Additionally, the Aerosol and Air Quality Research Laboratory at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis has a Solar Energy and Energy Storage group. Washington University also has the world’s first and only department of Energy, Environmental, and Chemical Engineering.

In 2022, Ford began shipping the all-new E-Transit™ vans, the electric version of America’s best-selling commercial van, from its assembly plant in Kansas City, Missouri. It was the company’s first U.S. plant to assemble both batteries and all-electric vehicles in-house.