(This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Colin Wessells.)
Natron Energy, a sodium-ion battery producer headquartered in California, is ceasing operations and closing its multimillion-dollar battery production facility in Holland, Michigan, where 37 people will lose their jobs.
In a notice given to the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, Natron Energy said it would be laying off those employees, along with 58 others in Santa Clara, California. The notice, required by state law when a company is laying off workers, was provided later than the law outlines.
Usually, companies are required to notify the state of pending layoffs at least 60 days in advance of the workforce’s last day on the job. Natron said in the statement that the layoff announcement came late because the company spent the summer scrounging up as many dollars as possible, hoping to avoid going under.
“Natron was unable to provide 60 days’ advance notice of the plant closure because as of August 27, 2025, Natron was actively seeking both capital and commercial business which would have enabled it to at least postpone the closure for a reasonable time period or even to entirely avoid the closure,” wrote Elizabeth Shober, head of human resources at Natron Energy.
Natron, formerly a go-getter battery start-up, said it told its 37 employees in Holland about the last-minute fundraising campaign and warned them of what could happen if it didn’t work out.
According to a now-deleted page on Natron Energy’s website, the company began in 2012 in the Palo Alto garage of Colin Wessells, a Stanford doctorate student at the time. In 2024, the company opened the factory in Holland, claiming it was the first sodium-ion production facility of its kind in North America.
Natron claimed that sodium-ion batteries, as opposed to the more prevalent lithium-ion batteries, were “transforming” industries like artificial intelligence, data processing, defense contracting and electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The company boasted that sodium-ion batteries were more efficient and made of more readily available materials. Natron did not make batteries for electric vehicles.
Upon opening its factory in Holland, it claimed the moment to be an “epochal milestone for the entire battery industry.”
After the announcement of the closure, Natron Energy representatives did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The closure of the battery plant in Holland is not the only manufacturing closure to hit western Michigan. In August, Nippon Piston Rings, an automotive supplier, announced a permanent closure of its Grand Haven plant that will terminate 64 jobs over the next year and a half.
Liam Rappleye covers Stellantis and the UAW for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him: LRappleye@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 37 workers lose jobs at Holland battery plant; company goes belly-up
Reporting by Liam Rappleye, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
