Binghamton joins new DOE-backed consortium to boost U.S. battery manufacturing

Binghamton University is a member of a new national consortium to accelerate the transition of energy storage innovations from discovery to domestic manufacturing.

The new Battery Manufacturing (BattMan) Accelerator, led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), will bring together national laboratories, universities, and industry partners to address critical barriers in scaling next-generation battery technologies.

Jie Xiao, a Binghamton University alumna, serves as accelerator director. “Breakthroughs in battery science must be matched by our ability to manufacture them at scale,” said Jie, the Boeing Martin Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington and a Battelle Fellow at PNNL. “This effort brings together the tools, data, and partnerships needed to design manufacturable solutions from the start and accelerate their transition into industry.”

The BattMan Accelerator will bridge the gap between discovery and manufacturing while establishing comprehensive manufacturing systems with super intelligence that integrate materials development, process design, and production in a seamless manner. 

Nobel laureate M. Stanley Whittingham, SUNY distinguished professor of chemistry, will serve as the lead investigator from Binghamton. He noted that the accelerator’s goals align closely with efforts of the Binghamton-led battery ecosystem that includes New Energy New York and the NSF Energy Storage Engine in Upstate New York.

“Incorporating super intelligence into both research and manufacturing allows us to move from trial-and-error to predictive design,” Whittngham said. “This capability is key to accelerating innovation while ensuring technologies can be produced reliably and affordably at scale.” 

Whittingham said he expects close interactions between the New York efforts and BattMan.

Binghamton is one of five university partners; the others are the University of Washington, University of Alabama, Arizona State University, and Texas A&M University. Argonne and Oak Ridge National Laboratories are also partners.

The BattMan Accelerator aligns with the DOE’s Genesis vision to integrate super intelligence, materials science, and advanced manufacturing into a coordinated, data-driven innovation ecosystem. The initiative seeks to lower manufacturing costs, speed up development from lab to scale, and boost U.S. leadership in energy storage manufacturing through scientific innovation.