Gov. Pritzker: ‘BloNo is booming;’ Illinois competing for billion-dollar battery plant

Posted on June 16, 2022
Earlier this week, Gov. Pritzker announced a $214 million expansion at the Ferrero plant in Bloomington. (Photo courtesy: Gov. Pritzker/Twitter)

By Blake Haas

NORMAL – According to the top Illinois government official, the state is still running for a billion-dollar battery plant.

Earlier this year, Normal missed out on a battery factory that could have been built across from Rivian Automotive.

Instead, Samsung chose Komoko, Indiana, for the factory that would have created up to 3,200 new jobs.

However, during an economic forum on Thursday, Gov. Pritzker said the state is still in the running.

“We’re talking too, I think this is public information, so I can reveal this. We’re talking to a major battery manufacturer about coming to Illinois. This is a company that will invest billions of dollars in a production facility that will not only produce batteries for companies in Illinois but also all throughout the midwest.”

In addition, the Governor said Rivian is on pace to employ over 7,000 employees at their Normal car manufacturing plant.

“The Bloomington-Normal area is booming. They don’t have enough housing there. People are moving to the area there because there are offshoot businesses that are getting created,” added Gov. Pritzker.

Patrick Hoban, President, and CEO of the Bloomington-Normal Economic Development Council, declined to comment.

Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].

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