By: Don Driggers
A party was held recently to celebrate the partnership between Australia and New York in the production of Lithium-ion batteries.
The New York Post reports Leaders from Australia and New York gathered in Lower Manhattan this weekend to celebrate a new technology-sharing initiative aiming to end Western reliance on China for the production of lithium.
Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) was joined by Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Richard Marles and Leader of the Opposition Party Peter Dutton for the fête Saturday night at One World Trade Center.
“The world is a challenging and precarious place and the alliance between Australia and the US has never been more important especially for Australia,” Marles said to The New York Post. “This event is an expression between the friendship and alliance between the United States and Australia.”
Lydia Moynihan, of The New York Post, writes that, “the event was on the tower’s 82nd floor, in what will soon be the offices of Scale Facilitation, the investment fund helmed by businessman David Collard, who arranged for New York-based experts to partner up with researchers and entrepreneurs in his native Australia on the project.
“Australia is one of American’s longest allies… and now we’re helping each other,” Collard told The Post. “When we’re both working on industries in our countries, it strengthens both our countries.”
“The US has been our nation’s dear allies for decades and we’re further embracing the synergy between these two countries,” Dutton, the opposition party leader, told The New York Post.
Scale helped launch a factory in the Empire State earlier this year that relies on cleaner ingredients to produce lithium-ion batteries — a necessary part for electric vehicles — rather than the toxic elements like nickel and cobalt China uses in their manufacturing process, according to The New York Post.
Guests included many notable figures from Down Under, including Australia Consul General to New York Nick Greiner, Australian Ambassador to the United Nations Mitch Fifield and Head of Australian Defense Services & US Defense Attaché Major General Andrew Freeman.
At the beginning of the evening, attendees were serenaded by a didgeridoo — played by a man who flew from Australia just for the event.
“This is the most iconic address in the world — its extraordinary to see Scale here,” Marles said.
In another way that New York State is leading the charge in the movement to rely les dog foreign countries like China and Russia, experts at Binghamton University have patented a new cell technology that is expected to lead to the mass production of cleaner lithium-ion batteries — replacing a manufacturing process widely used in China that requires toxic elements such as nickel and cobalt, of which Russia also is a key supplier.
Imperium3 New York (iM3NY) recently inaugurated its Gigafactory in Endicott, NY — just outside of Binghamton. The facility, which is expected to employ up to 5,500 people, is the first US-owned lithium-ion battery factory that will mainly use North American-based sources for its supply chain, reports The New York Post.
The breakthroughs in battery technology at Binghamton and the move to commercialize it at iM3NY stoked the interest of David Collard, the CEO of Scale Facilitation. In an exclusive interview this week with The New York Post, the Australian businessman said he was impressed that iM3NY partnered with 230 suppliers — none of which are based in China.