A company called Graphite One is eyeing Weathersfield Township as the potential location for a manufacturing company, that would produce electric vehicle products.

A letter of interest from the Export Import Bank of the United States initially said they'd be willing to pay $325 million toward the project's total cost, but now they've increased that number significantly.

"We still have a long way to go, the news out of the export import bank today though really gives everything a boost of confidence that we are moving closer to reality," Guy Coviello, President and CEO of the Youngstown Warren Regional Chamber said.

Coviello said it's an unusual yet encouraging move.

"The bank now increased it to over a couple billion and so there's obviously an extreme amount of interest and it's actually willing to cover 70 percent of the cost of the entire project," Coviello said.

The money could go toward a number of things from getting the project off the ground, to stabilizing it.

"It could be a loan for capital expenditures, for working capital when orders come in from over seas, it could also be used for insurance for when products exported are not paid for and it can also be used to pay for products up front," Coviello said.

Coviello adds, it speaks volumes that businesses like this keep gravitating toward the Mahoning Valley and showing their interest.

"It's another in a long line of companies that have either come here or are trying to come here," Coviello said. "Says a lot of good things about our business friendliness, it says a lot of good things about some of the assets that we have in terms of workforce," he said.

Nothing is set in stone just yet. Graphite One still has to file a formal application to the bank to begin the process of setting up shop here in the Valley.