Beta's New St. Albans Worksite Will Initially Employ 10 People 

Electric aviation startup Beta Technologies will begin construction of a new battery test site in St. Albans early next year, though few employees will work there at first.

A spokesperson for the South Burlington-based company said Beta expects to begin outfitting the space, a portion of a former Energizer plant, in January. The build-out includes at least four concrete bunkers near the building and a pollution-control device known as an air scrubber that will enable more robust testing.

Beta announced the expansion in September. The company has secured up to $557,000 in state grant funding for the project through the Vermont Employment Growth Incentive program, depending on how many jobs the project creates by 2026.
At the time, the company said the St. Albans site will "ultimately create hundreds of additional well-paying jobs," but did not specify a timeline. Its state land-use application under Act 250, submitted in October, says that up to 10 employees will work at the new facility, some of whom may be new hires. The local economic impact "will be negligible," the company wrote.

Beta currently employs around 450 people, according to the company.

Asked about the St. Albans employment figure, a company spokesperson wrote in an email on Monday that Beta expects to expand work at the Franklin County facility as it moves into production of its electric vertical-takeoff aircraft prototype, Alia, in coming years.

“We will need to increase the volume of battery testing and assembly and our plan is to do that work in St. Albans,” the spokesperson said.
Beta has been testing the battery packs that power Alia at its Burlington International Airport headquarters. Batteries have caught fire there twice.

That testing will be relocated to St. Albans, according to the company.

At November hearings before the St. Albans Town Development Review Board, Beta officials answered questions about fire safety, air and water pollution control, and hazardous waste. The external bunkers will be used for controlled destructive testing of batteries, Beta mechanical engineer Sean Donovan told the board, according to meeting minutes. The company's Act 250 application included a construction cost estimate of $216,000.
The Beta spokesperson said the company has obtained local and state permits for the St. Albans project. Its Act 250 permit application is listed as "pending" online.

Construction of the primary, 40-acre manufacturing campus at Burlington International Airport is under way and expected to be completed by July.

The company’s rapid growth has been fueled by more than $800 million in venture capital funding. Beta is racing other startups to bring one of the first commercially viable electric aircraft to market.
Its aircraft have been undergoing flight tests for several years but have not yet been certified by the Federal Aviation Administration for commercial operation.

The aircraft recently hopscotched from Plattsburgh, N.Y., to Louisville, Ky., using Beta's network of airport charging stations. The trip took five days. Once in Kentucky, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, whose department includes the FAA, checked out Alia, Vermont Public reported.