A subsidiary of Volkswagen Group and based in Salzgitter, the battery company aims to industrialize the dry coating procedure. The technology allows a decrease in energy consumption of about 30%; internal tests have already proven successful. Together with German printing machine specialist Koenig & Bauer AG, PowerCo will further develop and industrialize the dry coating procedure.
In modern industrial electrode production, the battery materials are mixed with additives and liquid solvents to a slurry. Afterwards, they are coated onto foils of copper or aluminum, then dried and calendered.
PowerCo’s dry coating procedure allows to calender the powdery basic materials directly onto the foil, similar to a printing procedure. As a result, two of four process steps in electrode manufacturing become obsolete. The powder coating can be applied onto the foil in an extremely fine and even manner; the resulting layer is about as thin as a hair. This guarantees excellent spatial energy density and a long life cycle, while improving the fast-charging ability of the battery.
Electrodes will be dry-coated and calendered directly.
PowerCo and Koenig & Bauer have signed a Joint Development Agreement. Together they will develop a roller press for powder coating electrodes at large industrial scale. The dry coating procedure allows manufacturing electrodes without wet-coating and subsequently drying them at high costs. With the new procedure, the most energy-intensive part of cell manufacturing and the use of chemical solvents are no longer required.
PowerCo is already testing and optimizing the technology in a pilot line in one of its laboratories in Northern Germany. As a printing specialist, Koenig & Bauer will develop a machine for the industrial powder coating.
According to PowerCo estimates, the new technology has the potential of saving about 30% of energy as well as 15% of floor space required and will therefore save hundreds of millions of Euros each year.
Per building block of a regular Gigafactory with a production capacity of 20 GWh, four parallel coating and drying lines can be saved, equaling an area of 7.000 square meters. As a result, the exterior length of the plant can be reduced by about 100 meters. Not having to operate the energy-intensive drying furnaces and suction systems will save energy equivalent to the annual consumption of 40,000 private households.
Furthermore, the use of chemical solvents that have to be laboriously recycled at high energy costs in silo-like towers outside the plants is no longer necessary.
What the solid-state cell is to the product, dry coating is to production—a real game changer. If scaled successfully, it will give us a unique position on the market and definite competitive advantages.
—Frank Blome, CEO of PowerCo SE
As the oldest manufacturer of printing presses in the world, Koenig & Bauer offers the industry’s largest product portfolio. The new processing technology is to exit development stage at the end of 2024. For the time after, PowerCo has agreed on exclusive rights. The contractual details are confidential and there have also been made separate agreements. Estimated start of production is 2026/2027.
Our plants are designed for quick and easy retrofits. In total, we have anticipated about 30 foreseeable innovations in products and production, so we are able to adjust our plants to all relevant new processes as soon as they enter the market.
—PowerCo’s Chief Operation Officer Sebastian Wolf
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