Manufacturing opportunities are expanding in Cheektowaga, thanks to more than $3 million in investments awarded to a company with a new plant in the area.
Natrion, a producer of lithium battery components, now has a production site in Western New York that will supply parts for up to 11,000 electric vehicles a year.
It’s an important location because there are key transportation options, including highways from their Binghamton location, and waterway travel to their offices in Champaign, Illinois, Natrion CEO Alex Kosyakov said.
“You've got great interstate access, rail access … Canada's right there. There’s significant battery plants in Canada, that are supplying, you know, the automakers in Detroit," he said. "The proximity to transportation hubs and supply lines, ultimately, that helps us get our materials out cheaper and drives better pricing and makes us more competitive in the marketplace.”
The investments include up to $250,000 in tax credits from Empire State Development — to support the creation of new jobs — $1.5 million in funding through ESD's New York Ventures and an award of more than $1.3 million from New York Power Authority.
The company currently creates parts to improve lithium battery performance and safety, but the goal is to eventually produce the entire lithium battery through Natrion, Kosyakov said.
“We’re at an interesting phase of our growth as a company," he said. "I think this new facility in Cheektowaga represents the culmination of our transition from being purely an R and D company to now, we're a manufacturer. Now, we're getting a product out into the marketplace at very large volumes.”
The plant will have about 20 employees when fully staffed, but the location also represents an opportunity to keep expanding in the future, Kosyakov said.
