The automotive industry, having spent over a century perfecting internal combustion engine manufacturing, must now rapidly adapt to the demands of producing electric vehicles (EV’s).
A recent article by McKinsey reports that demand for EVs is expected to grow by around 30%, nearing 4,500 gigawatt-hours (GWh) a year globally by 2030, and the battery value chain is expected to increase by as much as ten times between 2020 and 2030 to reach annual revenue as high as $410 billion. It is estimated that 90% of the demand will come from mobility applications, most notably EVs.
However, the EV battery supply chain is in a difficult period of uncertainty. Some larger automotive and battery manufacturers are building their own gigafactories or forming joint ventures to address supply issues. With the battery pack being the heaviest component and part of the vehicle’s floor, there are new considerations in terms of part design and material selection for the safety of the battery and the vehicle. Since physical testing is costly, virtual manufacturing enables the automotive industry to virtually test its EV battery designs before a single part is manufactured.
Non-destructive testing has become a necessity
Battery quality and integrity are of particular concern for all battery manufacturers because they directly affect safety—no more so than in the case of passenger-carrying EVs. Ensuring battery quality as production volumes increase presents a challenge that can result in huge financial losses if not approached with due consideration. If you’re making several cells a minute, a 10% defect rate can equate to several hundred thousand dollars in waste a day.
Contamination of the battery during manufacture can be a major cause of a number of defects. The identification of particles and assessment of particle size is an important contributor, especially for the active material (cathode). Similarly, delamination can reduce the capacity and maximum power of battery cells, while insufficient anode overhang leads to lithium plating at the separator and can affect the life of the battery, in addition to creating safety concerns. The ability to assess battery quality using non-destructive testing is vital for manufacturers who are looking to increase production capacity while keeping waste to a minimum.
Virtual manufacturing – Optimise the manufacturing process through digitalisation and accelerate engineering with AI-enhanced simulation
Utilising digital simulation and digital representations is an immensely powerful way to both accelerate product development and embed quality from the get-go throughout the entire value chain. Even without the physical part, when you have simulations you can trust, you can build reliability into the battery design while saving time and expense. This area of innovation has been developing rapidly. Digital twins have been used for some time now, but until recently, computing power was a limitation; meaning significant time was needed for the volume of solving required. But things are changing and new technologies such as AI are delivering the gift of time – making simulation tasks orders of magnitude faster and even more reliable. The advancements in cloud computing also mean that far less local computing power is needed, making rapid scaling up of operations even easier. And while physical testing cannot be entirely avoided further down the line, high fidelity multiphysics simulations continue to reduce their need between initial tests and final validation.
Visualisation of the internal geometry of batteries using 3D CT-data reconstruction and analysis software enables intelligent identification of features based on size, shape, and other characteristics—so the user can quickly spot issues like foreign particles that are otherwise impossible to find. These visualisations also enable accurate measurements and statistical analyses of quality-critical features such as porosity, or the size of particles suspended in fluid, that not only allow for insights into the material behaviour within the parts but can be used to feed valuable real-world measurements back into software simulations that inform research and development efforts. Identifying and correcting problems as early as possible during production has ripple effects throughout a product’s lifecycle.
Furthermore, comprehensive data gathered throughout the lifetime and performance of batteries can be used to understand the performance of their components in service. This provides OEM’s with the ability to analyse and evaluate battery performance and quality criteria on a larger scale and keep waste to a minimum.
Because simulations scale well and can be run in the cloud, many variations of the same battery design can be computationally tested, reducing the number of people involved in validation, and with it, the labour cost. Virtual manufacturing and the ability to merge the digital and the real can be an asset in achieving consistent, high quality production processes. Manufacturers can simulate different production scenarios, test material utilisation strategies, and identify potential issues before they occur. Virtual manufacturing can be applied at all stages of battery development.
From single cell assembly, foils roll bonding, battery jelly roll, assembling the single cell with cap and body, all the way to the full tray being joined to the body-in-white structure. It helps answer the key question “when I build my product, will it perform the way I expect?” enhancing safety and reducing the cost of quality.
Quality control and quality assurance – Increase safety and reduce scrap with quality at scale
Scaling up quality processes is critical as manufacturers seek to sharpen their competitiveness in the EV market. Achieving scale while at the same time reducing costs is a challenge, but on top of this, it is also vital for battery manufacturers to ensure catastrophic failures are avoided while in use. In Europe, the planned EURO-7 standard requires that batteries must retain at least 70% of their capacity after eight years of use. Elsewhere in the US and China, plans are for even more stringent regulations; 80% battery life after 10 years.
This rigorous safety and reliability standards mean that quality is critical and must be part of every stage of the manufacturing process. From anode overhang to cell swelling, accurate inspection is a key part of ensuring that every product meets the requirements of every stakeholder. But technology has the answer. During the development and production phase of an EV battery, it’s now possible to capture real data and build an even clearer picture of potential quality issues, feedback the insights from production and prevent quality issues from happening, reaching full production and then the wider supply chain.
Inspection hardware and software can provide detailed data about a part’s geometry, ensuring that it fits perfectly within the chassis, reducing the possibility of unwanted water ingress or movement which can lead to damage to the component. With scalable solutions, quality cannot just be maintained but improved as production is scaled.
Ignazio Dentici, VP, Global Automotive, Hexagon
