Siemens, Northvolt partner in next generation lithium-ion battery cell production; Siemens invests €10M

Siemens and Northvolt, a company working to build a European Li-ion Gigafactory with 32 GWh of battery capacity, are partnering for the development of best-in-class technology to produce high-quality lithium-ion batteries. The partnership, which will be supported by Siemens through an investment of €10 million (US$11.7 million); after production start in 2020, Northvolt will become a preferred supplier for lithium-ion batteries for Siemens.

We are happy to support Northvolt in building the battery factory of the future. With our Digital Enterprise portfolio, we contribute to a competitive battery cell production in Europe that fully exploits the benefits of software and automation: greater flexibility, efficiency and quality with shorter time to market.

—Jan Mrosik, CEO of Siemens Digital Factory Division

Northvolt is driving the battery production to build a battery with very low CO2footprint. Our Digital Enterprise portfolio will support Northvolt in building a state-of-the-art battery plant. We are excited to go in as a partner in this project.

—Ulf Troedsson, President and CEO of Siemens Nordics

Siemens sees the Northvolt initiative as a reference project for the battery production of the future, which will rely on the integration and digitization of the entire value chain: from the design of the battery cell through production planning, engineering and production to services.

The technology partnership is set up around two main areas of collaboration:

• Technology. Use of the Siemens Digital Enterprise portfolio, encompassing everything from manufacturing planning and design software to automation, including industrial communications networks and cloud solutions, will allow Northvolt to optimize its battery production and sharpen its competitive edge.
• Supply of lithium-ion batteries. Siemens intends to purchase batteries from Northvolt once its large-scale production facility is up and running. The companies are also exploring potential areas for joint development programs.

The European industry is moving rapidly towards electrification. With its world-class expertise within electrification, automation and digitalization, Siemens will become an important technology partner, supplier and customer to Northvolt in this coming transition. Once we begin large-scale production, our aim is to supply the greenest lithium-ion batteries in the world.

—Peter Carlsson, Co-Founder and CEO, Northvolt

Northvolt plans to offer the battery factory equivalent of a semiconductor foundry. It will offer one or two basic form factors and perfect the production of these. It will also offer a number of leading industry standard chemistries, which will be improved continuously. For high volume customers, proprietary chemistries will be closely tailored to fit their specific need

Tesla Gigafactory Begins Production Of Battery Cells For Powerwall, Model 3

Tesla announced on January 4 that is has begun mass production of the battery cells that will power its second generation energy storage products and the Tesla Model 3 midsize car due out in about a year. The Tesla Gigafactory began turning out pre-production cells last December. The new cells are called “2170 cells”, which indicates they are approximately 21 millimeters in diameter and 70 millimeters long. In a blog post, Tesla says the new battery cells were “jointly designed and engineered by Tesla and Panasonic to offer the best performance at the lowest production cost in an optimal form factor for both electric vehicles and energy products.”

The first 2170 cells will be used in the company’s Powerwall residential storage batteries and Powerpack grid-scale energy storage products. Cells intended for the Model 3 will go into production in the second quarter of this year. Tesla says by 2018, it will be manufacturing 35 gigawatt-hours of batteries, nearly as much as the rest of the entire world’s battery production combined.

The Tesla Gigafactory is a big part of Elon Musk’s plan to rethink how factories work and unlock efficiencies of scale that will drive down the cost of manufacturing. He calls it “building the machine that makes the machine.” He expects ultimately that factories of the future will be able to operate 3 to 10 faster than they can today.

“The Gigafactory is being built in phases so that Tesla, Panasonic, and other partners can begin manufacturing immediately inside the finished sections and continue to expand thereafter. Our phased approach also allows us to learn and continuously improve our construction and operational techniques as we continue to drive down the cost of energy storage. Already, the current structure has a footprint of 1.9 million square feet, which houses 4.9 million square feet of operational space across several floors. And we are still less than 30 percent done. Once complete, we expect the Gigafactory to be the biggest building in the world.

“With the Gigafactory online and ramping up production, our cost of battery cells will significantly decline due to increasing automation and process design to enhance yield, lowered capital investment per Wh of production, the simple optimization of locating most manufacturing processes under one roof, and economies of scale. By bringing down the cost of batteries, we can make our products available to more and more people, allowing us to make the biggest possible impact on transitioning the world to sustainable energy.”

Here’s the part that should gladden the heart of Donald J. Trump. Tesla says making battery cells in the US will create thousands of good paying jobs for American workers. Tesla and Panasonic will hire several thousand workers in 2017. When the Gigafactory is finished and in full production, it will employ 6,500 people directly and create 20,000 to 30,000 additional jobs in the surrounding community. Why not tweet about that, Donald?

Image credit: Tesla Motors

The Gigafactory Is Really, Really Big!

The grand opening party for the Gigafactory, 20 miles west of Reno, is scheduled for tomorrow, July 29. But that is when the pomp and circumstance will take place. The more important stuff has already happened. Tuesday night, CEO Elon Musk, CTO JB Straubel, and Panasonic executive vice president Yoshihiko Yamada held a wide ranging press conference in which they laid out their vision and goals for the world’s largest battery factory.

The building we see today is only 14% of the size the Gigafactory will be when completed in a few years. By the way, Musk says it will take about 12 Gigafactories to make enough batteries to meet all the world’s power needs. That’s why this one is known as Gigafactory 1. Here are some of the highlights of that press conference.

On the Gigafactory

Musk: “The factory itself is considered to be a product. The factory is the machine that builds the machine. It actually deserves more attention from creative and problem solving engineers than the product it makes. What we’re seeing, if we take a creative engineer and apply them to designing the machine that makes the machine, they can make 5 times as much headway per hour, than if they work on the product itself.”

Musk added, “It may sound a little strange and sentimental but I find it to be quite romantic. The final shape will be a diamond, aligned on true north, I like that. It seems incredibly romantic. By the way there’s 10,000 wild horses in the area. They just hang out. We have construction ponds for water, so its quite cool to see the horses drink from the construction ponds.”

Yamada: “Three years ago I thought this gigantic Gigafactory idea was crazy. Because then the production of the factory would exceed production of the industry. I thought it was a crazy idea. But I was crazy, and I was wrong after seeing extreme success of the announcement of the Model 3 and the strong demand.”

The 2170 Battery Format

Straubel: “We’ve spent a lot of time on this actually. It’s kind of interesting. There are a bunch of trade offs. There are some things that get better when you make the cell size bigger, and some things that get worse. 18650 was sort of an accident of history. That was what was standardized for early products. So we revisited all of those trade offs and came to this size, which is quite a bit bigger. If you have them next to each other, the actual volume of materials inside is substantially more. And overall it’s about cost optimization.”

Musk: “It really comes from the first principles of physics and economics. That’s the way we try to analyze everything. To say like if no cell existed in the world, what size should it be? What is the size that would achieve the product characteristics we’re looking for, but would be fundamentally optimal? 18650 is not optimal.”

Paying For The Gigafactory

“One part of that is working with strategic partners like Panasonic. We are seeing very good participation from our supplier for the capital costs of the Model 3 ramp. So we are going to fund it by Model S and Model X revenue, with money we have right now, with potentially a modest capital raise, but not a significant one. In a nutshell, there may be a capital raise, but it’s not going to be a huge one.”

Panasonic’s Relationship With Tesla

Yamada: “I want to explain to you the relationship with Tesla and Panasonic. I used to be in charge of components five or six years ago. At that time our relationship with Tesla was one of supplier and customer. A conventional business relationship.

“But since we started discussion on the Gigafactory that’s completely changed. One example, is production capacity is now two or three times more. Why? Because Tesla and manufacturing people worked together. We are discussing these details. This type of relationship is quite new for business. We are not the simple buyer and supplier relationship.”

Source and photo credit: Fortune

Panasonic Commits $1.6 Billion For Tesla Battery Gigafactory

Tesla battery gigafactory site, Reno, Nevada, Feb 25, 2015 [photo: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Bob Tregilus]

Throughout its project to build a massive battery "Gigafactory" near Reno, Nevada,Tesla has had assistance from its current battery supplier, Panasonic.

The Japanese electronics company has agreed to help fund the project, and will use its technical resources to help set up and run the factory.

Panasonic hasn't previously disclosed the amount it plans to invest in the $5 billion project, which will provide the economy of scale to lower the prices of Teslaelectric cars.

Now, the company--which also owns a small stake in Tesla--says it will spend up to $1.6 billion on the Gigafactory.

That estimate came from Panasonic president Kazuhiro Tsuga, speaking toMarketWatch at the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

Panasonic's continued involvement in the Gigafactory project is reportedly part of plan to grow the company's presence in the automotive sector.

Tesla Motors - Model S lithium-ion battery pack

Sales to carmakers accounted for about 15 percent of Panasonic's revenue in 2015, but the total revenue is expected to double over the next four years, representing 25 percent of the total.

At the same time, though, Panasonic faces stiffer competition from Korean battery suppliers Samsung SDI and LG Chem.

The latter will supply battery cells and many other components for the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV as part of a far-reaching partnership with General Motors.

The $1.6 billion investment Panasonic revealed at CES is significantly higher than the $92 million it had previously discussed.

Employees from the Japanese company were expected to arrive in Nevada at the end of last year to prepare for the start of cell production.

According to previously-released terms, about half of the Gigafactory is to be devoted to cell production supervised by Panasonic. The other half will be occupied by suppliers and assembly lines for cell modules and battery packs.

Tesla Model S undergoing assembly

The majority of cells initially will be used for its current Model S and Model X electric cars, as well as for its Powerwall home and business energy storage products.

Ultimately, though, the output will be used for the 200-mile Model 3 electric car, which is scheduled to be unveiled in March.

Tesla will need the economy of scale offered by such a large factory to achieve the Model 3's oft-quoted $35,000 base price.

But that relies on the factory being fully operational by 2017, when Tesla has claimed Model 3 production is expected to start.

The company has delayed each of its new-vehicle launches, and the added variable of the Gigafactory could make the Model 3 launch more complex than previous models.

And Tesla needs to ramp up Model 3 production quickly to meet its goal of selling 500,000 cars a year by 2020.

If it does meet that goal, Tesla will likely account for the largest portion of Panasonic's planned automotive-market growth.

Is Next Battery Advance Not In Chemistry But Fabrication?

Tesla Motors - Model S lithium-ion battery pack

Electric cars today are hampered by relatively short ranges, long charging times, and higher costs than comparable internal-combustion models--all problems that stem from their battery packs.

Legions of researchers are trying to improve on the currently-dominant lithium-ion chemistry, hoping to increase energy density and lower cost.

But what if the batteries themselves aren't the problem?

A Boston-area startup believes it can revolutionize lithium-ion batteries by changing the way they're made.

24M claims its battery-manufacturing process can dramatically cut costs, as detailed in a recent report by Quartz.

When it starts commercial sales in two years, 24M believes it can cut the cost of a battery-manufacturing plant nearly ten-fold.

Nissan lithium-ion battery pack plant under construction, Smyrna, Tennessee, Jan 2011

It currently costs at least $100 million to put an entry-level lithium-ion cell fabrication plant into operation.

Tesla Motors' Nevada "Gigafactory"--billed as the biggest lithium-ion plant in the world--will cost an estimated $5 billion.

The company was started in 2010 by Yet-Ming Chiang, an MIT professor and founder of A123 Systems--the manufacturer that supplied cells to Fisker Automotive before going bankrupt in 2012.

Apparently not content with starting one cell maker, Chiang rounded up $12.5 million in private and Federal funding for 24M, and went to work on flow-cell batteries.

These rely on the flow of an electrolyte fluid between tanks to create electricity. Chiang wanted to employ this design, but with lithium-ion chemistry.

The flow-cell plan eventually proved unworkable, but it wasn't all wasted effort.

Nissan lithium-ion cell fabrication & battery pack assembly at Nissan plant in Smyrna, Tennessee

Researchers built several standard lithium-ion batteries for comparison purposes, which got them thinking about the way commercial cells are manufactured.

The standard method dates back to the first commercialized lithium-ion cell design, which was introduced by Sony in 1991 for handheld video cameras.

To make the cells, Sony re-purposed an assembly line used for cassette tapes.

It made good financial sense at the time, but also introduced inefficiencies that haven't been dealt with 24 years later.

Companies still use massive machines to coat material in an electrode slurry, drying it and adding an electrolyte.

Chiang and his collaborators decided to reduce the footprint of the equipment, the time needed to assemble cells, and improve the design of the cells themselves.

Tesla battery gigafactory site, Reno, Nevada, Feb 25, 2015 [photo: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Bob Tregilus]

Injecting the liquid electrolyte into cells from the start reportedly saves 22 hours of drying time.

And the method for applying the electrodes was reduced to a quick process involving a "tube, a plunger, and some Teflon."

Filler space in the cells not devoted to energy storage was also reduced from 35 percent to 8 percent, and the electrodes were made four times thicker, to increase energy density.

This resulted in a battery-making machine about the size of a refrigerator. The final commercial version, 24M claims, will be able to churn out a cell every two to 10 seconds.

Those cells will cost around $160 per kilowatt-hour, while the equipment itself will cost just $11 million.

Rendering of Tesla battery gigafactory outside Reno, Nevada, Sep 2014

The company intends to start selling cells in two years, but only for stationary energy storage--not electric cars.

If its plans change, 24M could have a major impact. By 2020, the company expects the cost of its cells to drop to $85 per kWh.

That's comfortably below the $100 per kWh many analysts believe is the point where electric cars become cost competitive with gasoline and diesel cars.