Alevo Manufacturing Inc has informed state officials in North Carolina that it is immediately shutting down its factory inside a massive, former Philip Morris USA cigarette plant and filing for bankruptcy protection. The company said it was laying off 245 workers right away and the remaining 45 by the end of September “due to unforeseen business circumstances”.
The company had said in 2014 it intended to employ up to 2,500 workers by this year at its factory in Concord and had planned to sell its batteries to electric grid operators and utilities. Instead, the Alevo said it would liquidate its assets under a Chapter 11 bankruptcy case and try to pay off its creditors.
“Despite demonstrating the advantages of its groundbreaking battery technology, Alevo Manufacturing Inc has had “significant production challenges and thus insufficient revenue to continue operations,” the company said. The company sought new funding to keep operations going, but “despite best efforts, the funding has not been realised in time to permit continued operations”.
Alevo’s high hopes were impacted as electricity is regulated differently in each US state, and it is not clear in many cases how utilities could make money employing Alevo’s battery.
Earlier this year, Alevo reported that that Russian oligarch and owner of AS Monaco Football Club, Dmitry Rybolovlev, had invested in the company.
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