Siemens, Voltaiq Join Forces in Battery Quality Offering

LAS VEGAS –  German technology conglomerate Siemens is forming a strategic partnership with California-based Voltaiq to improve battery-cell production quality at a time when automotive battery production is skyrocketing.

Voltaiq has developed a proprietary system that allows battery makers to identify bugs, defects and other problems with cells as they come off the manufacturing line and before they can be deployed in finished products.

Voltaiq’s system is aimed at improving quality and reliability of batteries to reduce recalls, and the scope of recalls, and production delays. The company counts battery makers and companies such as Apple, and other mega users of battery cells, among its clients. The alliance with Siemens, already a major supplier to the mobility industry, is meant to combine Voltaiq’s battery quality expertise with Siemens’ manufacturing expertise and access to mobility companies, thus making it easier for automakers to try out the Voltaiq platform.

The agreement comes at a time when demand for battery cells is skyrocketing. Industry analysts forecast a 14-fold increase in demand between 2018 and 2030, and a fivefold increase in battery cell production this decade.

As automakers make the transition from internal-combustion engines to electric propulsion systems, they are having to upend their cultures and legacy workforces to convert to software engineering and battery powertrains. Automakers’ lack of experience with battery systems has created expensive delays in product launches, as well as recalls.

Better quality assurance provided by Voltaiq can ease that transition. “The increased demand for battery manufacturing introduces numerous challenges and different complexities to manage, including quality control, production efficiency, waste reduction and cost minimization,” says Eli Leland, Voltaiq co-founder and chief technology officer.

Ramping up a new battery factory, says Leland, can take up to four years to get online at more than 90% utilization and production yield because of prolonged trial and error and scrappage until the cells coming off the line are deemed reliable.

Voltaiq’s technology can identify cell anomalies early in the first formation cycle in near real-time as they come off the line – days or weeks before many cell anomalies are typically detected through traditional quality assurance.