If you’ve ever driven an electric car or used just about any piece of technology, chances are it’s powered by a lithium-ion battery. But up until now, just about all of them were produced overseas.

Inside the walls of Imperium3, you'll find history being written on a daily basis. Shailesh Upreti is the man leading the charge.

He’s founder and chairman of the first full-scale lithium-ion battery giga-factory in North America. Production has officially begun since he last spoke with Spectrum News 1.


What You Need To Know

  • Close to 100 employees, both locally and from around the globe, have been hired

  • The battery cells being produced are being sent to a third party for quality control before they are purchased and used around the world

  • Imperium3 New York produces hundreds of batteries a day, meeting a worldwide demand

“As you can see, we have a majority of the machines operational now," he said. "So we are able to do unit operations where we, in principle, are refining the processes and get each machine's personality refined and learn more about it."

Close to 100 employees, both locally and from around the globe, have been hired. The battery cells produced are being sent to a third party for quality control before they are purchased and used by companies around the world.

“The batteries we are manufacturing here could be used by electric cars, trucks, busses and then also for home storage. We are going all the way to grid, one of our customers, putting a very large battery to be connected to the main grid system. So that means storing solar, wind, as well as filling the gap between demand and supply," said Upreti.

Until now, no lithium-ion batteries were being produced on this scale in North America. Each piece of equipment at Imperium3 New York plays a crucial role in producing hundreds of batteries a day, meeting a worldwide demand.

“What you are looking at behind me is called the formation unit, and these are the units that are powering up cells for the first time. So in principle, the cell is taking part. So you are charging and discharging battery for the first time on the production floor," said Upreti.