Cellforce finalizes production process for electrode coating
The Cellforce Group, the joint venture between Porsche and Customcells, says it has successfully set up the series production process for coating its electrodes over the past twelve months. In the process, Cellforce has relied on close cooperation with the machinery and plant manufacturer Dürr.
According to Cellforce, the battery joint venture will in future use a special process from Dürr that enables both sides of the electrode to be coated simultaneously. The obvious advantage over conventional processes, in which the anode and cathode material is applied to both sides of the carrier foil in succession, is of course the shorter process time. However, Cellforce also claims that “precision and quality can be significantly increased” compared to the usual procedure.
A corresponding coating line has now gone into operation in Bietigheim-Bissingen. The partners worked together for several months on site at Dürr’s plant to implement the process on a series production line – so it is no longer a small prototype. Cellforce had already ordered the equipment itself from Dürr before the final location decision was made.
“For us, it was important that Dürr, as our technology partner, could act quickly and make possible adjustments directly,” says Markus Woland, Director of Operations at the Cellforce Group. “That’s why we chose this Cellforce proprietary approach, which has greatly increased the speed of development of our coating process and allows us to build up shared knowledge at an early stage.”
This coating technology has not historically come from Dürr itself, but was developed by Dürr’s US-based subsidiary Megtec, which was acquired in 2018. “We have a special technology that enables the Cellforce Group to manufacture top-quality high-performance cells – and to do so with a highly efficient and sustainable production process,” says Jochen Weyrauch, CEO of Dürr AG. “By working directly with the Cellforce Group, we can optimally align the technology with their needs and thus support them in the future development and production of high-performance cells with high energy density.”
However, the coating plant from Bietigheim-Bissingen will move again: Cellforce is building its 500 MWh cell factory in the Reutlingen-Kirchentellinsfurt industrial park. After completion, the production processes set up at Dürr are to be taken over directly. The plant manufacturer will also supply equipment for exhaust air purification and the recovery of more than 99 per cent of the solvents used for the cell factory.
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