Lithium battery-maker EnerDel appears to be on the cusp of revealing plans for a new manufacturing plant near Indianapolis.

Gov. Mitch Daniels is scheduled to join EnerDel executives on Thursday for a 1 p.m. economic development announcement at the company’s 8740 Hague Road headquarters.

As IBJ reported earlier this month, EnerDel has requested permission from Hancock County officials to set up manufacturing operations at the Mount Comfort business park east of Indianapolis. The county’s Board of Zoning Appeals is scheduled to hear the request Jan. 28.

Earlier Wednesday, IBJ reported EnerDel is in line for a $3 million federal grant that would help bring 200 more jobs to its current facilities on the north side of Indianapolis and in Noblesville.

EnerDel, a subsidiary of New York-based Ener1, is a startup maker of battery packs for electric vehicles and other uses. It has grown from 41 employees a year ago to 180 today. In 2008, the company announced plans for a $100 million expansion to create 850 jobs across Indiana by 2012—plans Hancock Economic Development Council Director Dennis Maloy has said have been scaled back.

About 275 of  the new positions were earmarked for the Indianapolis area. The company said the new Indianapolis jobs would involve research and cell production. Sixty more jobs were planned at 15425 Herriman Boulevard in Noblesville, where workers assemble battery packs.

The rest of the jobs were to be based at a battery-manufacturing plant to be located at a then-undisclosed site in Indiana—presumably in Hancock County.

The company  has applied for a $480 million federal loan that would allow for a significant manufacturing expansion.