The electric vehicle (EV) market is becoming mainstream. Globally, nearly 9% of all car sales were electric in 2021, up from just 2.5% in 2019. China and Europe are leading in sales, but even in the United States, EV sales doubled year-over-year in 2021, surpassing 500,000 vehicles.
This number is expected to grow significantly. Ford recently announced it had received over 200,000 advance orders for its F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck, set to hit the road later this year, leading to a halt in preorders until manufacturing can catch up.
The increasing preference for electric power over gasoline is putting a significant demand on sustainable power generation and causing many sleepless nights for battery manufacturers as they ramp up production to meet demand.
EV Battery Production
Major auto manufacturers are rapidly building new battery plants. GM has announced plans for its third facility, costing $2.1 billion, in partnership with LG Chem. Ford and its partner SK Innovation are planning an $11.4 billion campus in Tennessee, which will include two new battery production plants. On a single day in October, both Stellantis (Chrysler’s parent company) and Toyota revealed their investments in upcoming battery plants dedicated to their vehicles. Reuters estimates that automakers will spend more than $500 billion on EV and related battery production plants by 2030.
Schneider Electric understands the pressure battery makers are under. We provide end-to-end digital solutions for EV battery plants, from electrode production to cell finishing. Digitalizing your facility can help achieve efficient, reliable, and sustainable operations, leading to high productivity.
Four Ways Proven Battery-Manufacturing Experience Drives Success
Schneider Electric’s expertise in EV battery plant design and operation is rooted in our power digitalization capabilities through our EcoStruxure platform of digital, networked power equipment and devices. Our solutions cover four essential pillars for battery manufacturing success:
1. Accelerate Time to Market: Speed up the transition from design to operation.
2. Increase Productivity: Reduce costs for finished battery cells.
3. Improve Quality: Minimize risks that lead to downtime and lost production.
4. Emphasize Sustainability: Enhance energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions per kilowatt-hour of produced capacity.
Bringing Digital Twins to Life
Digital twins are virtual replicas of physical systems, enabled by advanced sensors, meters, and cloud-based analytics. They create near real-time models of equipment and systems.
Digital-twin technology supports all four pillars and is increasingly used by manufacturers and operators of complex systems to improve operations.
EcoStruxure Power offers an end-to-end digital solution that enhances electrical distribution digital twin capabilities. This solution improves system modeling and design tasks, helping EV battery plant operators to:
Stay Informed, Stay Tuned
Digitalized electrical distribution and power management solutions offer immense value. Download our reference guide, EcoStruxure Power & Digital Twin for EV Battery Manufacturing Plants, to learn more.
I’ll be exploring these topics in future articles. To learn more about the digitalization of electrical distribution combined with comprehensive power management, visit EcoStruxure Power.
