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The Norweigan-based company Hexagon Purus cut the ribbon on the 60,000 sq ft Kelowna facility today.
The plant is expected to employ up to 150 people and produce 1,000 battery systems for heavy-duty vehicles each year.
This site will serve a dual role, not only as a highly automated battery pack production site but also a technical centre of excellence for everything zero emission focused” said Hexagon Purus Executive Vice President Todd Sloan.
The opening of the plant puts Kelowna in a leadership position as the truck transportation sector begins to make the transition away from carbon-based power.
Among other things, the Kelowna plant will set up new trucks manufactured elsewhere with battery electric systems.
"We take rolling cab chassis, we electrify them and then give them to customers to operate," said Sloan.
A few hundred people attended today's opening.
With the shift to electric accelerating in the automobile market, Sloan is pleased with the timing.
"I think we all feel it as consumers," he said. "Even with buying our own cars."
Along with battery electric trucks which are ideal for short-haul trucking, the company is positioning itself to make moves in the long-haul sector as well.
"Once you need longer distance we then use hydrogen fuel cell systems," Sloan explained.
"When you use hydrogen and a battery pack together on a truck you can get up to a thousand miles of range."
That technology is still in development, but the battery-electric systems are ready to go.
For Kelowna Mayor, Tom Dyas, it's the kind of ribbon he would like to cut every day.
He said it means a lot more than just the jobs at the facility.
"The pathways that potentially this opens up for the city with bringing an industry like this to our community is amazing," said Dyas.
But the economic impact for the community will be immediate.
"We're hiring about five to ten people a day right now," said Sloan.
The first trucks will roll out of Kelowna starting in 2024.
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