Energy Power Systems to open battery plant

Pontiac, Michigan – Energy Power Systems LLC has leased 150,000ft2 of a former General Motors plant to launch advanced battery production in Pontiac, creating more than 300 new high-tech and manufacturing jobs during the initial production phase.

GM’s Pontiac Centerpoint Central building was on the properties the automaker vacated during its 2009 bankruptcy, leaving that asset with a trust fund set up to pay creditors. The Industrial Realty Group, manufacturing real estate investors with massive former auto-plant holdings throughout the Midwest, bought the plant from the government-run trust.

The new facility, expected to begin commercial scale production in early 2016, will produce high-performance, low-cost, and long-life batteries based upon EPS’ proprietary technology for use in fuel efficient start/stop and micro-hybrid vehicles; utility-scale distributed energy storage; renewable energy integration; and fast-charging infrastructure for electric propulsion vehicles.

The initial annual production capacity will be 500MWh, the equivalent of 500,000 start/stop vehicle batteries. The new facility will use state-of-the-art, ultra-low emission manufacturing processes that support the company's commitment to sustainability and a clean environment.

"The EPS team has successfully completed the product development phase and we are now launching the commercialization phase," says Subhash Dhar, founder, chairman, and CEO of EPS. "This major milestone is a testament to the proven performance attributes of our PLM technology, which offers a superior value proposition for our customers' applications."

The Pontiac Centerpoint Central campus includes a 1.2 million ft2 office building that will be converted to a high-end industrial, multi-tenant facility. The property had been vacant since 2008.

Stuart Lichter, president and CEO of IRG, says, "IRG's specialty is acquiring buildings in need of adaptive reuse, repositioning them and locating quality tenants. I anticipate the momentum at the property to continue and further announcements to come in the near future."

Chris Semarjian, president of Industrial Commercial Properties LLC, and a partner of Lichter's in the transaction, says EPS, with its combination of office, research, and manufacturing operations, is an ideal tenant for the facility.

EPS is backed by co-founder Townsend Ventures, an international investment firm with multiple energy-related businesses in its portfolio, including XALT Energy LLC, a high-volume, state-of-the-art lithium ion battery manufacturing company located in Midland, Michigan.

Source: Energy Power Systems LLC