Lithium-ion Battery Gigafactory to be developed in Endicott
- dominickmatarese8
- Aug 16, 2023
- 3 min read
Imperium3 New York Inc. (iM3NY) has announced that it is now fully funded to begin building a Lithium-ion “Gigafactory” at the Huron Campus in Endicott. The project expects to begin producing batteries in “early 2022."
The project is funded with the capacity to produce 1 gigawatt-hour of high-grade lithium-ion battery cells per year, and seeks to expand that capacity to 32 gigawatt hours of batteries within eight years. iM3NY says the project “will seek to employ about 150 people within the manufacturing operation and its headquarters” and “will create direct employment opportunities for approximately 2,500 people” within eight years.
Village of Endicott Mayor Linda Jackson said the factory is “going to really make a big difference in the village of Endicott.”
“We’ve lost a lot since IBM left, our economy has really gone down, we’ve had a lot of problems in the village with bringing people in, we’ve had a lot of sad things, negativity, and I think this is going to start to rebuild Endicott,” added Mayor Jackson, and with Deputy Mayor Eileen Konecny echoing that sentiment, saying, “I am so completely happy that [i3MNY is] coming, it is a much needed lifeline that the village of Endicott needs, and has needed for some time.”
Bill Shannon, chief operating officer of i3MNY said of the factory; “It certainly brings jobs, and jobs helps boost the economy. It also brings technology. There are good technology companies in the area as well, but it does bring this battery industry here.”
iM3NY says the batteries they produce will be sold to the U.S. Department of Defense, and will bolster the electrification of several large U.S. corporations. iM3NY says their batteries “will play a key role in reducing carbon emissions, fostering a greener planet, and making a better world for generations to come.”
Dr. Shailesh Upreti stated; “We are also very proud that our product has already been used in U.S. military and Navy applications, so our batteries built right here are right now in a product… and has been performing extremely well in [the] last twelve months.”
Paul Stratton, senior vice president of Sales and Marketing at iM3NY, stated, “We’ll have a green product, one of the greenest lithium-ion batteries on the planet. This product is really cutting edge and leads the world in creating a greener planet.”
One area that iM3NY seeks to focus on is electric vehicles. Shannon said “with the electric vehicle market growing at a tremendous rate… that is creating a tremendous amount of demand for batteries… we’re going to be servicing that tremendous demand.”
iM3NY has an exclusive license agreement with Charge CCCV, a Binghamton based research and development company founded by Upreti. iM3NY’s batteries will incorporate CCCV’s “Bio Mineralization” technology, which iM3NY says will help produce “higher capacity, safer, longer cycling, and lower cost batteries versus all other competitors in the category.”
Upreti has previously worked with and been mentored by Binghamton Professor Stanley Whittingham, a Nobel laureate for his work on lithium-ion battery development, for five years. Upreti is also a Board Member at the Koffman Southern Tier Incubator, which provides office space, programs, and mentors for local startups, where CCCV has been working out of.
The project’s $85 million in funding comes from a $50 million senior-secured loan from Riverstone Credit Partners, and $35 million in equity funding, $23.6 of which comes from Magnis Energy Technologies.
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