MIDLAND — A Midland-based company says it has signed a $1 billion multiyear deal to supply lithium batteries to a Chinese electric bus manufacturer and will hire 300 people.
XALT Energy LLC said Tuesday that it is supplying the batteries to Hong Kong-based Hybrid Kinetic Group Ltd. XALT says it will start production in the third quarter of 2015.
XALT said China is moving to cut down on fossil fuel use because of "dire environmental pollution" and says that's expected to "create significant long-term demand for both electric buses in the country's large and medium sized cities, as well as the batteries that power those buses."
XALT said it is going to hire 80 of the 300 workers in April. It was founded in 2009 as Dow-Kokam LLC.
