Europe’s battery manufacturers challenge market leaders

Cologne The claim is typically made in Germany: technology leadership. In order to steal market share from the powerful Asian manufacturers of batteries for e-cars, not only the products should be particularly good. The way in which they are built should also set standards. One place where German battery production is taken to the top is in Stuttgart-Vaihingen.

For three years, researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (IPA) set up the Center for Digitized Battery Cell Production (ZDB) here with the battery manufacturer Varta. It was opened in mid-September.

Increased use of IT should enable the leap forward: “Digitization is the key to production in the future,” says Varta CEO Herbert Schein. “With the help of artificial intelligence, we will take the manufacture of our battery cells a big step forward.”