From an original full-length article published in ABB Review 02/2022 “Supercharging battery production”

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Electric vehicles seem to be taking off now. Is it safe to say the electromobility trend is going strong?

Ronny Guber

Absolutely. The market share of electric vehicles has continued to grow exponentially. Current forecasts predict that by 2036, electric passenger vehicles will surpass internal combustion engine vehicles to make up the majority of all car sales worldwide [1].

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What’s driving that trend?

Ronny Guber

Consumers are increasingly motivated by sustainability. Many people are ready to make their next car an electric one and their decision hinges on two main factors: price and range. These happen to be two areas where batteries play a decisive role.

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How so?

Ronny Guber

Batteries account for around a third of an electric vehicle’s cost, so producing them efficiently will be crucial to making the price tags more attractive for consumers. To improve vehicle range, you need to get the latest battery technology to market as quickly as possible. You also have to adhere to manufacturing tolerances and cleanroom conditions that are much more sensitive than for traditional car parts.

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With electric vehicle sales growing exponentially, will battery production be able to keep up?

Ronny Guber

To a large degree, the answer will come down to how well those factories are automated. The plants will need to be a continuous blur of high-speed productivity – like a battery production superhighway.

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And automation technology can make that possible?

Ronny Guber

Yes, that will be the central role of automation technology – particularly intelligent transport systems. These systems allow you to keep the products on the track, so no time is wasted on unnecessary handling. Production can flow continuously at full speed while processing steps are accomplished in motion. And when you have lightning-fast synchronization with other automation components along the track, you can get dramatic reductions in processing time at each step.

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Can you put that in numbers?

Ronny Guber

By combining a track system with machine vision, for example, you can identify battery cells in 50 milliseconds as they pass by at 4 meters per second – with no external triggers, lights, or expensive cameras. That would normally take two full seconds with the product stopped, so it’s a time saving of 97.5 percent. And there are many other steps in battery cell production, such as tape application, where doing them in motion brings time reductions of up to 90 percent or more.

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Having sped up the individual steps there are also gains in density and availability. How are those achieved?

Ronny Guber

With an intelligent track system, you can arrange the manufacturing flow as a network of interconnected production stations. That way, you can coordinate cycle times and have fewer stations, with better utilization at each one. You can eliminate buffers and empty stretches of conveyor that take up space without adding value. By operating slower stations in parallel, you can multiply productivity without multiplying the footprint. With a networked production flow, parts are rerouted automatically around a faulty station, so small interruptions no longer have such an outsized impact on overall equipment effectiveness the way they do with a traditional linear setup.

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What does that mean for battery production?

Ronny Guber

With numbers like seven times the output per line, we’re seeing manufacturers replace four conventional lines with one high-speed line – that’s a 75 percent reduction in floorspace. Or, to put it another way, if you have a factory that’s two or three times as fast, it’s basically like having two or three factories. Ultimately, what that means for battery production is a really outstanding return on investment.

References:
[1] Ultima, in partnership with ABB, “Electric Vehicle Supply Chain Analysis. How Battery Demand and Production are Reshaping the Automotive Industry,” March 2021