Magnis Energy Technologies Ltd (ASX:MNS, OTCQX:MNSEF) has graduated to commercial production at the iM3NY New York Lithium-ion Battery Plant based in Endicott, New York, after months of preparation and development, entering the lucrative and red-hot North American battery market.
Magnis and its partners have produced an initial run of several thousand battery cells, expected to ramp-up to 15,000 cells per day by next month as production scales up to an annual rate of 1.8 gigawatt hours’ worth of battery cells.
“About six years ago, C4V and Magnis had the vision to produce American made lithium-ion batteries at a large scale using the BMLMP technology which possess many advantages in the current marketplace,” iM3NY chair and C4V president Dr Shailesh Upreti said.
“Today, that vision has become reality and we are working hard to scale up towards double-digit gigawatt scale production to continue to lead our position in the US market.”
The iM3NY plant is some three soccer fields in floor area (22,000 square metres), fully supported by green hydroelectricity with green credentialed C4V battery cathodes containing no nickel or conflict metals like cobalt.
Magnis will test the first few weeks of production for quality assurance purposes before sales begin, with first revenues expected by late September.
Meeting “huge demand” in the US
“After many years of hard work by everyone involved, today represents a momentous occasion for Magnis, its partner C4V and the wider iM3NY team,” Magnis Energy chair Frank Poullas said.
“With previously announced binding sales agreements, I look forward to updating the market as we move towards generating revenues and increasing the capacity of the plant to meet some of the huge demand currently experienced for lithium-ion batteries especially in the United States.”
In order to meet that demand, Magnis and its partners intend to increase the annual capacity of the plant to 38 gigawatt-hours by 2030.
“The iM3NY team has put in a huge effort to achieve this major milestone of commercial production with iM3NY being North America’s only pure home-grown battery plant,” iM3NY CEO Chaitanya Sharma said.
“Despite a challenging global environment and supply chain issues, we have successfully started production close to schedule which is a major achievement.
“We now look forward to increasing production rates toward and over the gigawatt hour mark.”