LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) — A Holland battery plant is pulling the plug less than two years after opening, leaving 37 Michigan workers without jobs.

Natron Energy, a California-based company that built its sodium-ion battery facility on West 48th Street in 2024, told the state on Aug. 28 it would close both its Holland and California sites after failing to secure enough funding or customer purchase orders to keep the business running. Ninety-five workers total will be laid off nationwide, according to WOODTV.com.

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“Natron was unable to provide 60 days’ advance notice … because as of August 27, Natron was actively seeking both capital and commercial business,” the company said in its Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) letter, explaining that the board had only just conceded defeat after fundraising collapsed.

The Holland site had been pitched as part of the next wave of clean-energy innovation, making sodium-ion batteries for AI projects and data centers. Instead, the plant barely made it past its first birthday before the money ran out.

Natron said its board believed up until the final hours that investors would come through. When they didn’t, the shutdown became “necessary.”