EU to Enact EV Battery ‘Passport’ in 2027
NEWS
Starting in February 2027, all new EV traction batteries with a capacity over 2-kilowatt hours that are marketed in European Union countries will require a digital “passport.” Photo courtesy Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology
BERLIN—Starting in February 2027, all new EV traction batteries, two-wheeled vehicle batteries and industrial batteries with a capacity over 2-kilowatt hours that are marketed in European Union countries will require a digital “passport.” The goal of the initiative is to ensure transparency and sustainability in the battery value chain, reduce environmental impacts and encourage the secondary use of batteries.
The Battery Pass Consortium is developing frameworks and recommendations in terms of content and technology for implementing the passport. The Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology (IPK) is responsible for the design and implementation of the technical standards.
It will support seamless documentation of a battery’s life, from raw material extraction and production to use, reuse and recycling.
The passport will contain a record of a battery’s origin and log its relevant uses. It will comprehensively describe the sustainability and responsibility of the supply chain, including carbon footprint data, the working conditions for raw material extraction, battery materials and components, hazardous substances contained, resource efficiency, performance and service life, battery status, and data related to recyclability and repair. Disassembly instructions contained in the passport will help facilitate the secondary use of as many battery components as possible.
“The battery passport provides a digital record of all of the socially, ecologically and economically relevant information on a battery’s life cycle,” says Thomas Knothe, Ph.D., an engineer at Fraunhofer IPK working on the project. “By providing verified and verifiable information, it can create transparency, support second-life uses or optimize processing by recycling providers.
“This supports the development of sustainable business models along the battery value chain, while complying with relevant sustainability and ethical criteria,” explains Knothe. “The aim is to reduce child labor and pollution in countries where the raw materials are produced, and keep track of the export of old batteries.”
To enable battery manufacturers and importers to present the battery passport in 2027, all of the necessary groundwork, technical specifications and test systems must be completed by the end of 2025.
“One of the challenges of putting the specifications into practice is interoperability,” Knothe points out. “For example, the software system needs to support as many different data carriers as possible, which supply information to the product in a way that is similar to a bar code or QR code. The same applies to unique identifiers, which are like ID numbers assigned to a product.”
New EPA Pollution Standards Could Spur Future EV Demand
The EPA’s final national pollution standards will accelerate the adoption of cleaner vehicle technologies. Photo courtesy Ford Motor Co.
WASHINGTON—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued final national pollution standards for passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and medium-duty vehicles for model years 2027 through 2032 and beyond. The final standards deliver on the significant pollution reductions outlined in the proposed rule, while accelerating the adoption of cleaner vehicle technologies.
According to EPA projections, there will be an increase in U.S. auto manufacturing employment in response to these final standards, consistent with the more than $160 billion in investment in clean vehicle manufacturing announced over the last three years. Once fully phased in, the standards will also save the average American driver an estimated $6,000 in reduced fuel and maintenance over the life of a vehicle.
“On factory floors across the nation, our autoworkers are making cars and trucks that give American drivers a choice—a way to get from point A to point B without having to fuel up at a gas station,” says Ali Zaidi, President Biden’s national climate advisor. “From plug-in hybrids to fuel cells to fully electric, drivers have more choices today.
“Since 2021, sales of these vehicles have quadrupled and prices continue to come down,” claims Zaidi. “This growth means jobs, and it means we are moving faster and faster to take on the climate crisis….”
“While I am pleased to see the president’s focus on greenhouse gas emissions reduction, his statement that the target is ‘that half of all new cars and trucks sold in 2030 would be zero-emission’ includes a common misconception that zero ‘tailpipe’ emissions translates to zero-emission,” warns Andre Boehman, Ph.D., a professor of mechanical engineering and director of the W.E. Lay Automotive Laboratory at the University of Michigan.
“For the average American, the electricity used to charge an electric vehicle still has a significant carbon footprint (on average, our electricity still yields more than 300 grams of CO₂ equivalent emissions per kilowatt-hour),” explains Boehman. “Electric vehicles give a large increase in vehicle energy efficiency and eliminate tailpipe pollutant emissions, but their carbon footprint and environmental impacts (through production and through driving) are not zero.
“This regulation does not address the existing vehicle fleet and its carbon emissions,” claims Boehman. “Those emissions need to be addressed as well, and can be reduced by ramping up the availability of renewable fuels for gasoline and diesel vehicles.
“The rapid expansion of renewable diesel for decarbonizing diesel cars and trucks is already underway, with a tenfold increase in production capacity expected in 2024 vs. the capacity in 2019,” Boehman points out.
EV Additive Manufacturing Has Pros and Cons
Additive manufacturing presents challenges and opportunities to electric vehicle engineers. Photo courtesy Daihatsu Motor Co.
CAMBRIDGE, England—Additive manufacturing offers numerous benefits for electric vehicle manufacturers. However, the technology also presents numerous challenges to engineers.
A recent report by IDTechEx examines the opportunities and barriers to printing EV components. After conducting interviews with key printer manufacturers and material suppliers, the research firm identified five opportunities:
• Lightweighting. Additive manufacturing can assist with the lightweighting of parts, which can extend an EV's driving range and create room for other components, such as larger batteries.
• Simplification of manufacturing. Additive manufacturing could allow for large assemblies to be consolidated into fewer parts, potentially resulting in a simplified supply chain and cost reductions.
• Improving speed to market. Additive manufacturing assists in reducing design cycle times by cutting production times and costs for prototyping and tooling. With vehicle design cycles shortening, 3D-printed parts could assist in bringing EVs to market faster through the production of prototypes (both aesthetic and functional) and tooling.
• Changes in legacy automotive supply chains. As legacy parts such as gas tanks are switched out for EV-specific ones, such as batteries, automakers and suppliers will be creating new supply chains to accommodate these new parts. This may leave room for additive manufacturing to take up market share, especially if manufacturers are more willing to consider alternative technologies as they adjust their supply chains.
• Flexibility in emerging EV players. The EV market has numerous start-ups that are more willing to consider alternative production technologies like additive manufacturing compared to legacy automakers. These start-ups may be more interested in digital supply chain dynamics than traditional players with long-standing supply chains.
However, IDTechEx analysts warn that there are six barriers facing 3D printing's application in electric vehicles:
• High cost of additive manufacturing. Most printed parts cannot compete price-wise against traditionally machined, cast or molded parts. It will be challenging to find applications where the performance benefits of additive manufacturing justify the cost, especially considering the need to bring the cost of EVs down to increase mass-market adoption.
• Limited materials portfolio and sources. Most additive manufacturing technologies do not yet process the aluminum and steel alloys alloys commonly used by automotive OEMs.
• Bias toward established methods and supply chains. There is bias toward traditional machining and molding techniques, especially among engineers at traditional automakers. In addition, these companies have long-established supply chains. With how risk-averse OEMs can be, it is difficult to introduce new manufacturing technologies like additive manufacturing.
• Production throughput is too low for mass-market adoption. Additive manufacturing has lower throughput than established manufacturing processes, making it hard to achieve high-volume production for mass-market EVs.
• Lack of need for performance improvements. For many mass-market parts, current solutions perform well enough, so there is no need for OEMs to adopt additivie manufacturing for production-ready parts.
• Lack of reliability. With OEMs being quite risk-averse, additive manufacturing needs to prove its quality and consistency to be used for mass-market EVs.
Porsche EV Plant Named ‘Factory of the Year’
Porsche has transformed its Leipzig plant into an intelligent, connected factory that is smart, lean and green. Photo courtesy Porsche AG
LEIPZIG, Germany—Porsche AG’s assembly plant here has been named the “Factory of the Year” (the European equivalent of the Assembly Plant of the Year award) by the Kearney consulting firm and the German trade magazine Produktion. The flexible factory produces the Maycan (a compact battery-powered SUV) along with the Panamera (a four-door gas-engined sedan).
The 22-year-old facility was cited for its digital production initiative and sustainability efforts. Porsche has transformed the plant into an intelligent, connected factory that is smart, lean and green.
The new”‘marriage” process on the assembly line is an example of combining lean, mixed production with a high degree of complexity. The process of joining car chassis and body together is designed for maximum flexibility.
Cars with three different types of drivetrain—combustion, hybrid and electric—are produced on a single assembly line. Camera-based battery monitoring for electric cars has also been integrated, along with an automatic measuring system for inspecting screw threads.
A state-of-the-art paint shop features automatic error detection technology. In just 70 seconds, two robots scan the entire outer surface of a car’s body with a pattern of light strips. Around 100,000 photos enable them to use reflections to identify tiny irregularities. Based on the results, five image-processing computers generate a 3D visualization of the body that quickly shows the location and type of irregularities detected.
Porsche Leipzig is a zero-impact factory that promotes a circular economy, biodiversity and air quality. Since 2017, the factory has used electricity only from renewable energies and production has been CO₂-neutral since 2021. A portion of the electricity required to operate the plant is produced via four photovoltaic systems.
In addition, the factory grounds feature a test track, plus a 326-acre grazing meadow for Heck cattle and Exmoor ponies. It’s also home to approximately 3 million honeybees
Honda and Nissan to Partner on EV Technology
Honda and Nissan plan to collaborate on the development of EV components. Photo courtesy Nissan Motor Co.
TOKYO—Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. have signed a memorandum of understanding to begin “a feasibility study of a strategic partnership in the fields of vehicle electrification and intelligence.” The two automaker believe that it’s necessary to combine their strengths and explore the possibility of future collaboration related to software platforms and core electric vehicle components.
“It is important to prepare for the increasing pace of transformation in mobility in the mid-to-long-term, and it is significant that we have reached this agreement based on a mutual understanding that [we] face common challenges,” says Makoto Uchida, president and CEO of Nissan. “We look forward to further discussions and aim to find win-wins for sustainable growth.”
“In this period of once-in-a-century transformation in the automotive industry, we will examine the potential for partnership,” adds Toshihiro Mibe, president of Honda. “Our study criteria will be whether the synergy of the technologies and knowledge that our companies have cultivated will enable us to become industry leaders by creating new value for the automotive industry.”
Electric Vehicles May Be Cheaper to Produce by 2027
By 2027, many next-generation EVs may be cheaper to mass produce than comparable ICE vehicles. Photo courtesy Volkswagen AG
STAMFORD, CT—During the next few years, legacy and start-up automakers will continue grappling with disruptions caused by the electric vehicle evolution. However, by 2027, many next-generation EVs will be cheaper to mass produce than comparable ICE vehicles, claims a new report by Gartner Inc.
“New OEM incumbents want to heavily redefine the status quo in automotive,” says Pedro Pacheco, vice president of research at Gartner. “They brought new innovations that simplify production costs, such as centralized vehicle architecture, or the introduction of gigacastings that help reduce manufacturing cost and assembly time, which legacy automakers had no choice to adopt to survive.
“With the perceived promise of easy gains, many start-ups gathered into the EV space…and some are still heavily dependent on external funding, leaving them particularly exposed to market challenges,” explains Pacheco. “In addition, EV-related incentives are being progressively phased out in different countries, which makes the market more challenging for incumbents.”
By 2027, Pacheco believes that 15 percent of EV companies founded in the last decade will either be acquired or bankrupt. “This does not mean the EV sector is crumbling,” he points out. “It is simply entering a new phase where companies with the best products and services will win over the remaining.”
Gartner estimates EV shipments will reach 18.4 million units in 2024 and 20.6 million units in 2025.
“However, we are moving from ‘gold rush’ to ‘survival of the fittest,’” claims Pacheco. “This means the success of companies in this space is now heavily conditioned by their capabilities to respond to the needs of early mainstream EV adopters.
“As OEMs move on to disruptively transform their manufacturing operations in tandem with product design, the coming years will see BEV production costs drop considerably faster than battery costs,” says Pacheco. “This means EVs will reach ICE cost parity much faster than initially expected, but at the same time, it will make some repairs of EVs considerably costlier.”
Gartner predicts that by 2027, the average cost of an EV body and battery serious accident repair will increase by 30 percent. As a result, vehicles suffering a collision may be more prone to a total write-off, as the repair could cost more than its residual value.
Schaeffler to Build EV Component Factory in Ohio
Schaeffler plans to build a new U.S. factory to produce e-axles and other transmission components for electric vehicles. Photo courtesy Schaeffler AG
DOVER, OH—Schaeffler AG plans to build a $230 million assembly plant here to produce e-axles and other transmission components for electric vehicles.
“Our new plant will play a pivotal role in shaping our future in the Americas region,” says Marc McGrath, CEO of Schaeffler Americas. “Dedicated to advancing our innovative product offering, our new facility will feature state-of-the-art production processes so we can better serve our customers, while also adopting sustainable practices, as we continue to pioneer motion.”
“We are convinced that the trend toward more electrification will continue,” adds Klaus Rosenfeld, CEO of Schaeffler AG. “At the same time, Schaeffler is ideally positioned to benefit from [our] technological leadership in hybrid and fuel-efficient technologies, in particular in the United States. On that basis, we are committed to [helping] our clients achieve their emission reduction targets and to realize our growth ambitions.”
Schaeffler has been increasing its investment in autonomous and electric vehicle technology. The German Tier 1 supplier recently completed an expansion at its Wooster, OH, factory that produces electric motors and components for EV power train applications. It is also working with Ohio State University to create a new battery cell R&D center that will open next year.
May 2024 | ASSEMBLYMAG.com
