By Katie Liu, Oct. 23, 2025
Hundreds of members of Greater Binghamton’s community, including local government representatives, came out to attend Battery Week events between Oct. 13-17. From taking joyrides in luxury LUCID electric vehicles to exploring the future of manufacturing in a lab-on-wheels, people of all ages could learn about the vital role of batteries, hear about the companies responsible for bolstering innovation and manufacturing, and celebrate the region’s growth so far. View photos from the week here.
Battery Week was led by New Energy New York, one of the Binghamton-led battery initiatives alongside the NENY Tech Hub and the U.S. National Science Foundation Energy Storage Engine in Upstate New York. Battery Week’s title sponsor for this year and partner in programming was Raymond Corporation.
The week kicked off with Future Innovators Day, in which Oakdale Commons filled up with tables sporting light-up circuit boards, arrays of 3D-printed knick-knacks, and even a machine that could bend wires into giant paperclips.
“There’s a lot going on here in terms of creativity, and our job is to try to capture that, figure out how it works, why it matters and then how we can support that continuing in the future,” said Susan Sherwood, executive director for the Center of Technology and Innovation (known as TechWorks!) in downtown Binghamton. TechWorks’ activity was among the more than 15 groups’ activities on Monday.
Beyond offering hands-on STEM demonstrations for kids of all ages, attendees also had the chance to explore modern manufacturing training via SUNY Schenectady County Community College’s Mobile Learning Lab.
“There’s not too many mobile labs out there, so it’s new to a lot of people. I think it opens up a lot of different ideas,” said Matthew Maloy, director of workforce development at SUNY Schenectady County Community College. “People say, ‘We could use it here, we could use it there, when we want to excite people in STEM and trade fields.”
In showcasing the potential of STEM careers, whether in the battery sector or other scientific endeavors, this event reached more than 500 attendees over the course of a few hours, including New York State Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo and U.S. Representative Josh Riley.
“If we can be a center for battery manufacturing, that’s not just going to rebuild the middle class around here. It’s not just going to create a lot of really good jobs. It’s also going to save the planet for my kid’s generation,” Riley said. “So many families in this area spent generations working at IBM or at EJ [Endicott-Johnson], and I see battery manufacturing as the next chapter of that long, proud history of manufacturing in the region.”
In addition to bolstering battery manufacturing, Binghamton’s initiatives have the broader goal of transforming upstate New York into the technology hub for American battery growth and innovation.
Binghamton University also hosted its second ever battery safety symposium as part of Battery Week activities last Thursday, bringing together various energy storage experts to discuss industry-wide developments in battery safety. Presentations ranged from firsthand experiences from New York’s firefighters to the initiative to bring zero-emission electric buses to the MTA.
“If you’re going to have these batteries, there is an element to the safety of them. We have found holding a day conference to just talk about these topics and bring that content to the surface is really important,” said Caroline Pasquale, project staff associate at the S3IP Center of Excellence, which was one of the workshop sponsors, alongside Binghamton University’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and NENY.
Beyond reaching out to members of the general public, Battery Week aimed to encompass local innovators and manufacturers as well. On Tuesday, the Koffman Southern Tier Incubator offered a business ideation workshop with the Small Business Development Center.
Meanwhile, manufacturers could attend a dedicated forum on Wednesday, which brought together both large and small manufacturers in the region to connect and discuss current challenges and opportunities.
“I thought it was super meaningful, and we need to do more of that: having manufacturers talk to other manufacturers, because it means more to them when it comes from like-minded businesses,” said Carol Miller, executive director of Alliance for Manufacturing and Technology, which is a NENY coalition partner. “It’s not from the academic standpoint, not from the not-for-profit standpoint and it’s not from the economic development standpoint — they understand each other. They have their own language.”
Battery Week ended with a pitch showcase by the ChargeUp Accelerator’s seven startup companies. ChargeUp is a program that offers more than 200 hours of virtual and in-person curriculum to battery companies in order to prepare them for investment and business success. This year’s cohort was selected from more than 100 companies nationwide, each taking a unique approach to improving energy storage solutions.
“The biggest thing is just getting to know the other cohort teams. We’re all going through similar challenges, different growth stages. But really, at the core of it, we’re all small battery companies trying to make it big,” said Christopher Schauerman, CEO of Cellec Technologies, one of ChargeUp’s cohort companies. “We want to grow. We want to get our technology out there so it doesn’t die in the lab. Being able to rely on each other and talk through things with each other has really been the strongest part of the ChargeUp program.”
The final showcase gave companies the chance to continue practicing crucial pitching skills while sharing their work with the general public and potential collaborators.
“I’m just excited to see people come out for batteries in general, even if they’re not here to see me,” Schauerman said. “The fact that they’re engaged in the community within the network, and they care about energy storage and trying to grow and create jobs here in the Southern Tier of New York state, is fantastic.”
Since becoming a Build Back Regional Challenge awardee in 2022 — a designation which sparked the creation of Battery Week — NENY has awarded over $1 million in stipends for college student interns and helped at least 65 businesses to expand and enter new markets. It has also stood up 26 new programs alongside the NSF Energy Storage Engine, and leads the nation’s one and only accelerator program specifically focused on battery and energy storage startups.
“I wouldn’t be here without the support of the entire battery energy storage ecosystem in New York. [It’s great] to know that it’s growing, it’s flourishing, and there will be more opportunities on the horizon for the next companies that come through the [ChargeUp] program,” Schauerman said.
As NENY enters the fourth year of its grant, it aims to continue bolstering New York’s battery ecosystem, whether through supporting the next generation’s entrepreneurs or offering internship opportunities in the clean tech sector for students. Its flagship project Battery-NY, a first-of-its-kind battery prototyping facility in the U.S. to allow companies of all sizes to improve their technology readiness, is also set to open its doors next year.
“If we’re going to have more energy on the grid and lower people’s utility bills, while also saving the planet from climate change, it’s going to require those batteries,” Riley said. “There’s no place in the world better positioned to make those than here, because that’s what we’ve done throughout history: make stuff that the world needs.”