Johnson City building to house innovative NSF Engines lithium-ion battery facility
A Johnson City building which once housed printing presses will now be at the forefront of lithium-ion battery research and development.
At a press conference Thursday morning at 10 Gannett Drive in Johnson City, Binghamton University President Harvey Stenger announced the official launch of the NSF Upstate New York Energy Storage Engine.
The building will house a manufacturing facility which specializes in the production of lithium-ion batteries, rechargeable batteries that are found in countless technologies including cell phones, electric vehicles and power tools.
Lithium-ion battery facility at former Gannett building in Johnson City
In January, the Upstate New York Energy Storage Engine, led by Binghamton University, secured an initial $15 million in funding and up to $160 million over the next 10 years through the U.S. National Science Foundation's Regional Innovation Engines Competition (NSF Engines), a program created by the CHIPS & Science Law.
The grant came following the Southern Tier university's New Energy New York earning the designation of Battery Tech Hub last year, which opened up millions of dollars in funding and promised to create large-scale change for the region in following years.
More: Binghamton 'Engine' wins up to $160 million from National Science Foundation. What it means
Binghamton University purchased the Johnson City building for $4.5 million in 2020. The 97,000-square-foot facility closed when Gannett Corp., which owns the Press & Sun-Bulletin, shifted print production of the Press & Sun, the Ithaca Journal and the Elmira Star-Gazette to Rochester in June 2018.
Binghamton University stored part of its Glenn G. Bartle Library collection at the Gannett Drive building during renovations to the library's third floor.
According to Stenger, achieving this latest vision for the building required collaboration and communication between many local, state and federal partners, and will drastically impact the landscape of upstate New York.
"This, along with other efforts will help us decrease our reliance on foreign suppliers and create room for growth for startups and new businesses across upstate New York," said Stenger.
Stenger said the technologies developed at the new facility would be "transformational," and praised the area's community, researchers and all involved in making the project a reality.
"We want to develop something new, something different — a game-changing update to battery technology," said Stenger. "That development in technology, which is going to be made possible by the engine, the funding and our partnerships and relationships across the board, is part of a greater sustainable future for us all. We have all the ingredients, and all the elements to do it right here."
"This funding will let us come up with new inventions, which we intend to test out and build up to commercial stages in this facility," said Binghamton University professor and Nobel Prize winner M. Stanley Whittingham.
This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: Binghamton battery research, development will happen at this JC plant
