The most cost‐intensive components of the battery system for electric vehicles are the lithium‐ion battery cells. Thus, to reduce the overall cost of a battery system, a clear objective is to reduce the production cost of lithium‐ion battery cells. Cost drivers are to be identified, which are essential to enable potentials for cost reduction. In particular, the formation and aging process represents a high potential for process cost reduction because of its enormous process time expenditure. The automotive industry requires up to 3 weeks for the formation and aging process of a single lithium‐ion battery cell. Due to the high relevance of these processes, the research project OptiZellForm as part of the ProZell Cluster examines those production steps in detail. Environmental conditions such as mechanical load and elevated temperature as well as the electrical and chemical properties influencing the formation and aging process are investigated. The focus of this study is the investigation of the mechanical exertion and elevated temperature with regard to the reduction of the formation process duration and thus the reduction of the production cost. For this reason, a specially designed device is used to investigate these parameters for lithium‐ion battery cells.

Growth in the Li-ion battery market continues to accelerate, driven by increasing need for economic energy storage in the electric vehicle market. Electrode manufacture is the first main step in production and in an industry dominated by slurry casting, much of the manufacturing process is based on trial and error, know-how and individual expertise. Advancing manufacturing science that underpins Li-ion battery electrode production is critical to adding value to the electrode manufacturing value chain. Overcome the current barriers in the electrode manufacturing requires advances in material innovation, manufacturing technology, in-line process metrology and data analytics to improve cell performance, quality, safety and process sustainability. In this roadmap we present where fundamental research can impact advances in each stage of the electrode manufacturing process from materials synthesis to electrode calendering. We also highlight the role of new process technology such as dry processing and advanced electrode design supported through electrode level, physics-based modelling. To compliment this, the progresses in data driven models of full manufacturing processes is reviewed. For all the processes we describe, there is a growing need process metrology, not only to aid fundamental understanding but also to enable true feedback control of the manufacturing process. It is our hope this roadmap will contribute to this rapidly growing space and provide guidance and inspiration to academia and industry.

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