Temple just landed a serious charge to its industrial base. East Penn Manufacturing Co. has picked the city for a roughly $110 million expansion of its battery finishing and distribution plant, a move that will add about 175,000 square feet to the facility and bring roughly 48 new jobs. The company says the project will expand the site’s finishing capacity and is slated to break ground in June 2026, with completion expected by fall 2028.
As first reported by the Austin Business Journal, East Penn weighed an Iowa location before choosing to grow in Temple. The company has also signaled interest in selling more backup power and battery systems into the data center market, which would broaden its customer base beyond traditional automotive and industrial buyers, the report says.
Expansion Details
The expansion will tack on roughly 175,000 square feet to the existing 393,000 square foot finishing center, boosting AGM finishing capacity by at least 3 million batteries a year and creating 48 jobs, according to KWTX. Temple EDC partnered on the announcement, and company statements say the Temple site handles final finishing after cells and plates are manufactured elsewhere, before the batteries are shipped across North America.
Why Temple Won
Industry reporting shows East Penn has asked the Temple City Council for a tax abatement to support the work at the existing Wendland Drive complex, identified in filings as 5101 Wendland Drive. ConnectCRE and local documents indicate the company and city are negotiating incentives, and the move builds on East Penn’s earlier Temple investment, a project that came with about $1.4 million in Texas Enterprise Fund offers and roughly $106 million in capital commitments, according to a 2022 press release from the Office of the Texas Governor.
What It Means Locally
East Penn currently employs about 350 people at the Temple facility and more than 10,000 company wide. The firm produces hundreds of battery types used in transportation, motive power and reserve power applications, according to the company website. City leaders and company officials are casting the new investment as a strong vote of confidence in the local workforce, with East Penn Chief Manufacturing Officer Larry Miksiewicz calling it “second to none” in a statement to KWTX. Officials say the added capacity could deepen Temple’s role in supplying both traditional battery markets and growing data center backup needs, as reported by Austin Business Journal.
