Future automotive batteries could cost less and pack more power because of a new manufacturing research and development facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The $3 million U.S. Department of Energy facility is located off Hardin Valley Road at the National Transportation Research Center.
It features two chambers with 1,400 square feet of space and state-of-the-art battery manufacturing equipment, an ORNL press release said.
One chamber allows researchers to maintain relative humidity levels of between 0.5 and 15 percent, and it houses equipment that allows for mixing slurries, stabilization, coating, and drying.
The second chamber provides a dew point of minus-40 degrees Celsius, which translates to a relative humidity of 0.5 percent, preventing moisture from entering and degrading battery cells, the release said.
Parts are assembled automatically into pouches that are filled with a precise amount of electrolyte in the second chamber. They are then trimmed and sealed through a heating and vacuum process.
Researchers can make batteries with up to seven ampere-hours capacity, a size that provides a good demonstration capability but requires less material, reducing the burden on smaller companies that lack large-scale production capacity, the release said.
It said the new facility allows for collaboration with industry and other national labs while protecting the intellectual property of industrial partners.
“We’re able to integrate advanced material components into a complete battery, analyze how it performs, and better understand how to improve it,” said Claus Daniel, deputy director of ORNL’s sustainable transportation program. “With this capability, we can isolate and evaluate a material or process and quantify any advantage that each would provide.”
“R&D facilities such as these are critical in the development of advanced battery technology that is more affordable and more durable than today’s batteries,” said Patrick Davis, program manager of DOE’s Vehicle Technologies Program.
Daniel looks forward to many successes.
“Working with industry, we’re advancing the field and moving closer to creating a battery that will allow automobiles to travel longer distances on a single charge,” he said.
ORNL has a dozen contracts with eight battery-related companies in their quest to compete in a global marketplace, the release said.
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