HIGH POINT, N.C. — Soelect is a Guilford County startup that produces battery components for electronic vehicles. Governor Roy Cooper was in the Triad Tuesday afternoon showing his support for the company and their help in making the Triad an epicenter for clean energy.
Soelect's head engineer explained they're creating a formula for automotive companies like Toyota to use to make a more efficient battery. Toyota is set to start making electric vehicle batteries at their up-and-coming location in Liberty by 2025.
According to their CEO, Soelect has been manufacturing these parts for about five years. They had their open house Tuesday.
Governor Cooper attended the event and showed his support for the company to push clean energy goals along in North Carolina.
During his remarks at the open house, Soelect's CEO, Dr. Sung-Jin Cho said the company has had a difficult time finding skilled battery technicians.
Dr. Cho said they signed a contract with Forsyth Technical Community College Tuesday. The community college will partner with Soelect to train people to work at their facility.
Dr. Cho who was a professor at NC A&T said Soelect has been manufacturing these parts for about five years.
The governor gave a few remarks before touring the center alongside Guilford County leaders and Soelect leaders.
Governor Cooper touted this business as one that will help the state progress towards its climate goals.
There is a lot of red tape to get through, for example figuring out how to eliminate the gas tax, but still pay for road maintenance.
He says the Triad will lead the way though because of business like Soelect and Toyota.
"Now we have an EV manufacturer, we have Woofspeed coming here which is going to create thousands of jobs to make chips which are going to be an important component of that. We've got Toyota battery and we've got companies like Soelect that are going to be making important components of electric vehicles. What they're doing here enhancing the batteries, the technology is going to continue to improve to make these batteries last longer and going further between charges," said Cooper.
Governor Cooper wants the state to take advantage of the economic benefits that comes with new technology companies and insure people from the Triad are getting said jobs