2021 Canadians to Watch

Soroush Nazarpour, 36, leads NanoXplore Inc., a Quebec-based supplier of a substance — graphene powder — that could make electric vehicles more efficient and lead to their mass adoption. Despite being incredibly thin, graphene is stronger than steel and more conductive than copper, and it will not break down at high temperatures. Those properties could make it an ideal material for EV batteries, helping reduce charging times and allowing EVs to go farther on a charge — addressing two key areas of concern among Canadian consumers.

This year, NanoXplore formed a joint venture with Ontario supplier Martinrea International Inc. to prove graphene’s potential for EV batteries. If the JV, dubbed VoltaXplore, is successful, Martinrea and NanoXplore have signaled interest in opening Canada’s first “megabattery factory.”

IN HIS OWN WORDS:

“There are a lot of good technologies out there, but they are either not scalable or they’re expensive and people really don’t use them. Graphene is something that can actually change the way people live. It impacts multiple industries. It’s a very strategic material.

And for us, the mission was to make it accessible to pretty much everybody. Let’s bring the price down and bring the volume to scale.”