VW masters dry-coating battery process with potential to slash cell costs

Koenig & Bauer AG

16/06/2023 13:50

BERLIN, June 16 (Reuters) - Volkswagen  VOWG_p.DE  and a
technology partner have mastered a battery manufacturing process
called dry coating which if scaled up could cut the cost of cell
production by hundreds of millions of euros a year, its battery
chief said on Friday.
    The carmaker, which is working with printing press
manufacturer Koenig & Bauer AG on the technology, said the two
companies are the first to perfect the procedure for both the
positive and negative electrode.
    "No-one else can do this today," battery chief Thomas
Schmall said at a media roundtable.
    In traditional battery manufacturing, materials for the
cathode - or positive electrode - and anode - negative electrode
- are applied to a carrier foil via a chemical paste mixture
that needs to dry, requiring high amounts of energy.
    Dry-coating eliminates that step with an adhesive that does
not require drying, Schmall explained.
    Tesla  TSLA.O , which obtained a similar process through
acquiring startup Maxwell Technologies in 2019, has so far been
able to dry-coat the anode, but is still having issues with the
cathode, sources told Reuters in March.
    Volkswagen said it has produced several hundred cells with
its method on a pilot line and should be ready for industrial
production by 2027.
    Together with scaled-up production and cheaper raw
materials, the carmaker hopes the procedure will help bring down
cell costs by around 50%, Schmall said.
    Its cell plants under construction in Germany, Spain and
Canada will still have drying lines but can be retrofitted to
remove them at a later date, PowerCo Chief Operating Officer
Sebastian Wolf added, freeing up around 15% of factory floor
space.

 (Reporting by Victoria Waldersee; Editing by Rachel More and
Jan Harvey)
 ((Victoria.Waldersee@thomsonreuters.com;))