Southern Indiana Business Report
NEWBERRY – The Battery Innovation Center (BIC), a prototype manufacturing, testing and evaluation lab for energy storage systems has announced expansion of its dry room capacity to enable additional prototype and low volume production of advanced battery cells in Indianapolis.
Additionally, BIC has announced intentions to increase the topics for education offerings in addition to the highly successful Battery Basics course. These developments are directly related to the selection of Les Alexander as BIC’s new CEO in September 2023 to lead a new era of growth in BIC’s service to the battery industry.
BIC is accepting pre-bookings now for the new capacity that is set to come online beginning May 2024. The expansion will add nearly 4,000 square feet of additional dry room space for cell manufacturing and assembly. In addition to this capability, the BIC is adding incubation space for companies looking to optimize their manufacturing before moving into full production. The new capacity will come online in the Emerging Manufacturing Collaboration Center (EMC2) in Indianapolis, creating a second location in addition to the original BIC location at WestGate Technology Park near Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane.
“The new capacity in the new location will increase BIC’s ability to serve the dynamic needs of the advanced battery industry,” said Alexander. “While our original location will continue to serve customers and provide ready collaboration with NSWC Crane, the Indianapolis location will roughly triple our cell manufacturing capacity and be even more accessible to our many global customers.”
BIC also announced expanded education and training offerings to meet the growing needs of the battery industry in Indiana and beyond to ensure workforce readiness as new high volume battery production comes online in North America. BIC will build upon its first-of-its-kind hands-on in-person Battery Basics training course that has been delivered to over 1,000 industry practitioners. New education and training offerings will be available in 2024.
New courses include dedicated training in collaboration with Vincennes University (5-day in-person Battery Tech), Battery Floor Manufacturing, virtual battery training and first-responder training. The training and education offerings will target communities where major battery manufacturing facilities are being established including Kokomo and New Carlisle, where Samsung SDI battery factories are under construction.
“Our customers need BIC to grow with them, and BIC will continue to support the industry as high quality, in-person training and dry room capacity remain pressing needs for a new era of US battery development and production,” said Paul Mitchell, co-founder and board director of the BIC.
The announced expansions come at a time when BIC is growing the overall scope and scale of its services to meet increased and varied industry demand. While BIC has experienced steady year-over-year growth over the last 10 years, industry demand for battery fabrication & engineering, testing, and education & training services has outpaced historic capacity.
For the last 24 months, the BIC board of directors has been looking at options to evolve the business to ensure BIC remains a trusted partner of the U.S. battery industry to accelerate product development, commercialization, and ensure workforce readiness.
“Energy storage is critical to national and economic security interests. Les’ service record as a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy and decades of experience supplying batteries to global organizations, including the federal government, ensures that BIC has the necessary leadership to support national priorities,” said Col. Chad Pittman, co-founder and board director of the BIC.
Customers and battery industry stakeholders interested in either the cell manufacturing capabilities or educational offerings of the BIC are encouraged to contact BIC at bicindiana.com/contact for more information.
About Battery Innovation Center
The Battery Innovation Center (BIC) is a public-private partnership and not-for-profit organization based in the State of Indiana. BIC provides a range of prototyping, engineering services, testing & certification, and in-person or virtual education & training offerings to more than 400 customers from industry, academia, and national defense organizations. The BIC is also home to Underwriters Laboratories (UL) Battery Energy Storage Test lab (BEST). For more information, please visit www.bicindiana.com.