To meet the demand for zero-emission transportation, Hexagon Purus is opening a micro-factory near the Kelowna International Airport.
“Our mission is clean air everywhere, that is our vision,” said Todd Sloan, Hexagon Purus executive vice-president.
“In this factory, we will be making battery packs and hydrogen systems for commercial vehicle markets, so long-haul trucking, cube vans, anything commercial.”
The planned 60,000-square-foot micro-factory is designed to be replicated across North America.
“Over the last 20 years, what we have become really good at is putting large, heavy energy storage systems on commercial vehicles,” said Sloan.
“Now with the battery systems, we’ve got a lot of credibility in the industry with making durable reliable energy storage. The other thing that we have done really well is the battery packs we have are the lightest and smallest in the industry.”
The creation of the micro-factory means the hiring can begin now. Construction is set to be completed by the end of September 2022.
“These will be somewhat highly technical jobs. This is not going to be minimum wage labour, just because what we are doing, it’s technical. Dealing with high voltage and hydrogen, of course, we need to take safety very seriously.”
Sloan says that the company is working to help Canadians meet the net-zero carbon emissions by 2035 goal set by the Liberal government.