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With the company saying it fills a “critical role in powering the nation’s next chapter of electrification,” Canada’s first large-scale battery manufacturing plant is now officially open for business.

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NextStar Energy Inc., a $6-billion factory in Windsor on track to employ 2,500 workers, celebrated its grand opening on Thursday — a milestone that “reflects the economic momentum” the company is building in the border city, said Danies Lee, NextStar Energy CEO.

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Ontario’s premier and Canada’s industry minister were among the visiting dignitaries in attendance.

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“With strong investment from the federal and provincial governments and the commitments from our founding joint venture partners, we are proud to be creating long-term economic value for Canada,” Lee said.

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“At the same time, we are helping power the next generation of energy that will future-proof Canadian industry at scale. This is a unique, made-in-Canada success story and one we can all be proud of.”

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The battery-making process

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After suiting up in full personal protective equipment, members of the media were taken on a brief tour through some of the 4.23-million-square-foot facility on Thursday morning. Brett Hillock, chief operations officer of NextStar Energy, guided participants through the lamination, stacking, and packaging process that results in a finished active battery cell. Each machine runs inside a large glass case.

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Production lines have a live video feed that reviews the process for quality control.

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Machines cut each cell. Another machine then stacks the cut cells in “perfect uniformity,” Hillock said.

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After that, the stacked cells enter a packaging area, where an electrolyte is added to turn them into an active battery. Then, the battery ages for up to two weeks and undergoes multiple tests before it’s shipped out to the customer.

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The finished product is a rectangle that measures just over one foot long and appears around one inch thick.

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Hillock said the plant is set at one per cent humidity to ensure no moisture enters the cells. Moisture could impact battery performance.

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On a good day, he said, the plant produces 40,000 battery cells.

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Inside the plant are eight quality control labs that run 24/7. They take samples at each point of production for quality control.

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The plant currently operates two packaging lines and five lithium iron phosphate lines — also known as LFP lines. The plant continues to scale. Hillock said this redundancy is helpful — if one line has to be stopped for quality control, other lines can continue operating.