BWP, LiCAP and Siemens have entered a strategic partnership to manufacture and commercialize innovative dry electrode manufacturing systems for the battery cell industry.
BW Papersystems (BWP), a division of Barry-Wehmiller, is a capital equipment manufacturer for multiple industries. LiCAP Technologies, Inc. (LiCAP) is a developer of cost-effective and sustainable dry electrode manufacturing solutions for lithium-ion battery and solid-state battery technologies (earlier post). Siemens is a global innovator focusing on digitalization, electrification and automation for the process and manufacturing industries.
This strategic partnership with LiCAP and Siemens will allow BW Papersystems to share our technology with a new industry, and together we can create solutions for high-performance battery cells.
–Jeff Gafner, Sr. VP Global Product Lines
Rising demand for batteries comes with a huge jump in demand for battery cell manufacturing equipment. Today most incumbent battery cell manufacturing suppliers are based in Asia, already operating at more than 95% capacity. Moreover, they may prioritize orders from established customers (mostly leading incumbent cell manufacturers) over those from new market entrants from Europe and the United States.
As a result, North American and European battery cell manufacturing companies and EV OEMs may face a bottleneck in equipment supply that will place their planned start of production at risk.
The strategic partnership between BW Papersystems, LiCAP and Siemens will make the North American and European Gigafactories more competitive through industrialization of LiCAP’s cost-effective and sustainable Activated Dry Electrode technology. As a crucial manufacturing partner, Siemens will be integral in scaling production for both companies.
For LiCAP, it was important that BW Papersystems and Siemens, as our manufacturing partners, already have the expertise and know-how in areas that are critical to successful commercialization of our Activated Dry Electrode(TM) technology. This is why we partnered up with them and have no doubt they can build manufacturing equipment for our electrode manufacturing process at much greater speed compared to any other company.
–Martin Zea, VP of Operations at LiCAP