NEST iON to build battery R&D facility in Rochester
The facility will be sited at Kodak’s Energy Storage Hub at the Eastman Business Park in the Finger Lakes. The high-density lithium ion battery manufacturer also will add a pilot production line, expected to be on line in a few weeks.
February 22, 2017 Charles W. Thurston
Energy Storage
Installations
Technology and R&D
New York
Empire State Development
Boris Gragera, CEO of NEST iON said, “The energy storage ecosystem at Eastman Business Park has what we need for this next important phase of our expansion. Home of world-class coating capabilities, the BEST Test & Commercialization Center, and the recently announced Kodak Pilot Cell Assembly Facility, EBP is rapidly becoming a hub for the development of critical next generation battery and energy storage technologies. We are thankful for the support of Empire State Development in establishing a base in Rochester.”
In developing new U.S. lithium ion battery capacity, NEST iON is still early in what is expected to be a massive capacity build up over the next few years. While nearly 90 percent of the global lithium ion battery manufacturing capacity of 41.57 GWh is in Asia, the rapidly growing capacity in the U.S. is oriented toward electric vehicles.
Tesla’s new $1 billion, 35GWh factory in Nevada is expected — with partner Panasonic’s help — to drive down the cost of EV batteries from some $400/kWh now to less than half that cost over the mid-term. Far more capacity is on the horizon. Sonnen is expanding its U.S. battery capabilities with a new North American Innovation Center in Atlanta.
Industrial Info Resources reported in February that it is tracking seven new U.S. lithium-ion battery projects totaling $5.35 billion. NREL suggested in April 2016 that 20 GW of new lithium ion battery projects were being planned globally.
All this capacity is targeting the booming global lithium ion market, which Transparency Market Research estimates will grow from $30 billion in 2015 to $77 billion by 2024, with a CAGR of nearly 12 percent per year.
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