AVL List opens new battery research centre in Graz
AVL List has put its new Battery Innovation Center (BIC) into operation in Graz. In addition to the functional development of new high-voltage batteries for electric vehicles, the focus is on establishing, implementing and validating new efficient production processes.
The 1 600 square metre facility is embedded in the company’s headquarters in Graz and is designed to support all of AVL’s global competencies for “innovative battery concepts”, it says.
In the Battery Innovation Center, functional battery development is closely interlinked with the expertise of production planners and the input of parts and machine manufacturers. The result is a “significantly higher degree of maturity of the batteries developed by AVL across all phases of development”. In addition, it should be possible to accelerate the process up to market readiness, while at the same time ensuring consistent quality.
“The BIC is designed for a wide range of battery developments. All the current core processes of module and pack production can be mapped at the various stations, some of which are fully automated. Regardless of cell type, target voltage and integration level, it will be possible to reproduce all the steps involved in module construction and, in the future, pack construction. Furthermore, the industrial robots in the BIC enable AVL to meet requirements in the areas of Cell-to-Body and Module-to-Chassis, which are increasingly important for automobile manufacturers,” the company explains.
The “technical production assurance of large-scale production in a real environment” is also located in the Battery Innovation Center. In the pilot line, the designed production process is to be tested in detail under real conditions. “All cell types currently available on the market with dimensions up to cell-to-pack dimensions” should be able to be processed industrially. And further: “Furthermore, batteries can be manufactured in the BIC from individual production in A-samples to construction batches of several hundred batteries under complete monitoring of defined quality characteristics.”
Planning for the AVL Battery Innovation Center in Graz began in 2018. The project is supported by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) and the European innovation programme Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI).
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