COMMITMENT TO “GREEN” BATTERY CELL MANUFACTURING

CIC energiGUNE is committed to the “green” manufacture of battery cells through the European GIGAGREEN project

The initiative, in which 16 leading European entities are participating and which is financed by the EU’s Horizon Europe programme, aims to lay the foundations for the “gigafactory” of the future

The aim is to develop sustainable manufacturing processes for the production of lithium-ion battery cells with minimal environmental impact and energy consumption in the design phase

CIC energiGUNE, a leading Basque research centre in energy storage specialising in batteries, thermal energy solutions and hydrogen technologies, and a member of the Basque Research & Technology Alliance-BRTA, will promote the development of sustainable processes for the production of lithium-ion battery cells that facilitate a significant reduction in environmental impact and energy costs in the design phase. This work is part of the European GIGAGREEN project, in which CIC energiGUNE participates along with 15 other entities on the continent, and which is fully funded by the EU through the Horizon Europe programme.

“The ultimate goal of GIGAGREEN is to lay the foundations for the Gigafactory of the future,” said Raquel Ferret, Business Development Director at CIC energiGUNE. “In this way, we are working to position Europe at the forefront of the lithium-ion battery market and, consequently, in the new generation of electric vehicles”.

Specifically, GIGAGREEN proposes a goal-oriented research structure to develop and expand new manufacturing processes for cell and electrode components, applying an innovative design approach to manufacturing. This means that GIGAGREEN will seek to minimise environmental impact and energy consumption in the design of the cells, thus facilitating their reuse and disassembly.

This will result in increased profitability and increased process and product safety, as well as providing high-performance technologies that can be easily scaled and automated in the context of the gigafactories envisioned for Industry 4.0 and 5.0.

In fact, GIGAGREEN will be a turning point for the EU cell manufacturing industry, as its results will contribute to a smooth transition between current processing methods (manual, isolated, manual, isolated, automated, etc.) and the current
processing methods – manual, isolated, trial-and-error and not easily scalable or flexible – and the lithium-ion cell factory of the future, based on greener, cleaner, cheaper, more efficient and more efficient technologies.
cleaner, cleaner, cheaper, safer, improved, digitised and flexible technologies.

GIGAGREEN is a project led by the Polytechnic University of Turin, involving – in addition to CIC energiGUNE – Sustainable Innovations, ABEE, Solvionic, Leclanche,
Nanomakers, University of Parma, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Sintef, Inegi Porto, Arlanxeo, Alphanov, Manz Italia, CETIM and Johnson Matthey. The Basque centre will lead the
development of technologies for dry and wet processing of the cells.

The GIGAGREEN project benefits from the most recent and current manufacturing approaches, mainly focused on improving those points that represent the highest energy and economic costs and that have the greatest room for improvement and innovation, such as the processing of electrode cells and their components.

Thanks to the progress made by GIGAGREEN, EU industry will be able to rapidly utilise the results related to water-based processing after 2026, so that the EU industry will be able to use the results of GIGAGREEN in a cost-effective way.
2026, so that the industry’s performance will immediately start to improve its competitiveness with materials designed and improved to operate and be processed under these conditions, and will pave the way towards dry electrode processing techniques as the next technological revolution in lithium-ion manufacturing.