The Electrovaya plant on Precision Way, Ellicott, is pictured. More cars will begin showing up in the parking lot in the coming months now that construction and start-up financing has been finalized. Production is expected to begin in 2025 with full production coming in 2026. P-J file photo by Christopher Blakeslee

Electrovaya likely could have had a better package of incentives for its Gigafactory elsewhere.

But Chautauqua County had an ace in the hole – the Jamestown area’s manufacturing history and a boost from a company that closed its doors in 2018 at 1 Precision Way, Ellicott, in the Mason Industrial Park.

During a conference call on Friday, The Post-Journal asked what led Electrovaya officials to select Jamestown as the site for its Gigafactory to make lithium ion batteries. Low cost power, state and local incentives all played a role – but in the end workforce was a determining factor.

“The region plays a major role in our selection,” Das Gupta said. “What we wanted was a place where we could find good people. That was ultimately the most important asset in any manufacturing site and I think that gets understated by corporations in general. But myself we had an experience where we had a facility in a place, this was in Europe, where it was very hard to find good people and that facility suffered as a result. That was a key selection criteria. Jamestown has a history of manufacturing. We spoke with Heidenhahn quite a bit, that was the previous owner of this facility, about the people that they had working there and while they shut that facility down I think they gave Electrovaya a particularly good deal and worked with us because we were going to bring jobs back and because we were going to manufacture in Jamestown.”

Proximity was another key factor in the selection of Chautauqua County. Electrovaya supplies batteries for the Raymond Corporation, a manufacturing company located in Greene County in New York state and has a contract to supply a Toyota plant in Indiana. The Ellicott facility is also close to Electrovaya’s plant in Ontario, Canada. A hydropower allotment from the New York Power Authority and lower-cost utilities through the Board of Public Utilities was a selling point, as were state and local incentives.

“The fact that we could get relatively low cost electricity,” DasGupta said. “Making lithium ion batteries uses massive amounts of energy. And having that both being renewable and relative low cost worked in our favor. The last is we had seen good support from New York state. We have had previous relationships with NYSERDA. It made sense to locate in New York. Probably if you looked at it on an incentive basis alone we probably would have been able to have maybe more lucrative offers elsewhere but I think we made the correct decisions. We’re very proud to be Jamestown residents.”

Electrovaya’s space in the Mason Industrial Park was also a major selling point. Lee Gilmore, a former employee of the building’s previous tenant, MD Electronics, said the space is nearly turnkey for Electrovaya. That means construction costs are lower than they would have been elsewhere. Engineering studies have been ongoing, with Gilmore saying more engineering studies are coming up to drive the next phase of building preparations to make sure HVAC, piping and ventilation are ready for what little buildout will remain to prepare for production. There are also acres of space around the building should Electrovaya need to expand in the future.

Electrovaya has rapidly increasing demand for its products from a wide range of heavy duty and mission critical electrified applications. News broke in July 2022 that Electrovaya was eyeing Ellicott for a new factory after Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a hydropower allotment to Electrovaya from the Niagara Power Project through the New York Power Authority. Heidenhahn sold the building to Electrovaya for $5 million. Empire State Development (ESD) is assisting the project with up to $4 million through the performance-based Excelsior Jobs Tax Credit Program and $2.5 million in Regional Council Capital Funding.

The Company’s manufacturing facility on Precision Way in Ellicott is scheduled to produce Electrovaya’s proprietary Infinity lithium-ion ceramic cells, which offer industry leading longevity and safety.

The battery manufacturing facility is expected to lead to over 250 jobs and support Electrovaya’s exports to Japan, Canada and Australia. Furthermore, the facility will both benefit from and help support developing supply chains in the U.S. for lithium-ion battery production. The Jamestown-area expansion will also benefit from the Inflation Reduction Act 45X production tax credits as well as grants and tax incentives from the state of New York, which the company will be able to access as the facility scales in output.

“So I would imagine it is in the year 2026,” DasGupta said regarding the plant reaching full capacity. “It’ll be a ramp up. It won’t be from day one. But we believe we have the demand to move this to three shifts. That will be around that 250 number.”