“The Inflation Reduction Act has created a race to the top.” Q&A with Ruth Gratzke of Siemens 

Siemens is helping to digitalise and automate the global battery industry, and is also a key investor in new battery gigafactories in the US and Europe.

In 2018 Siemens signed an agreement with Swedish battery producer Northvolt, and also invested in the company. It is also working with Arizona-based Kore Power in the US.

Siemens Financial Services was the lead investor on the initial $75 million of private financing for Kore’s six gigawatt hour battery factory in Buckeye, which is due to start production at the end of this year.

The company’s technology and software promises to improve the efficiency and reduce the energy usage of battery factories.

There are over 400 battery gigafactories being built globally, according to Benchmark’s Gigafactory Assessment, with a total planned capacity over over 9,000 gigawatt hours.

Benchmark Source sat down with Ruth Gratzke, president of Siemens Smart Infrastructure US & CEO of Siemens Industry, to learn more about how the company is helping battery factories.

How has the IRA impacted battery manufacturing in the US?

The Inflation Reduction Act has created a race to the top. It has made clear to companies where America’s industrial priorities stand, and we’re seeing domestic battery manufacturing rise to the top of that list. And the response from industry has been incredible — we’ve seen billions of dollars of private capital being invested here in the US in addition to the “down payment” from the federal government through vehicles such as the IRA. These climate-focused investments create opportunities for industry to innovate, especially in the areas of digitalisation and decarbonisation.

Additionally, Siemens helped create a coalition of US domestic battery supply chain companies called the US Battery Machine Builders, otherwise known as US BMB. This coalition is dedicated to fortifying the US battery supply chain by encouraging adoption of American-made machines and equipment. This will ensure quality machines are being crafted right here in the US and since companies applying for federal funding are analysed for domestic content, we believe that these federal programs will also help build demand for domestic capabilities in the battery supply chain, creating jobs and supporting US businesses.

How can your technology help cut the cost of producing lithium-ion batteries in the US? What kind of cost improvements can be achieved?

Siemens Smart Infrastructure smart factory solutions provide the foundation for more resilient, efficient and connected facilities – ultimately helping usher in the next era of US manufacturing. Power distribution hardware and software ensure facilities’ electrical footprint is efficient and reliable while providing building managers with real-time analytics and diagnostic maintenance insights.

Siemens’ building management systems can monitor environmental controls, security, and power distribution systems all from a single interface, which increases comfort, efficiency, optimises energy usage, and safety for occupants.

How does it improve quality and production yields?

Siemens’ digital twin and automation technology as well as industrial IOT solutions help battery manufacturers improve production quality and increase production yield. For example, Siemens and Voltaiq have developed a new solution that combines Siemens’ industrial Internet of Things and Voltaiq’s suite of battery-specific monitoring, visualising and advanced analytics capabilities to accelerate battery manufacturing.

The joint solution addresses the challenges faced in the critical finishing stage of battery production – which makes up a significant portion of production costs and time – by helping to reduce the risk associated with discovering problems late in the production cycle where yield and profitability are most likely to suffer.

When it comes to large battery production Siemens has the end-to-end capabilities and expertise from raw material procurement to battery recycling and reuse – helping manufacturers leverage fast-moving opportunities in this short period of time. We also help battery factories avert unplanned downtime by deploying intelligent power systems that increase resiliency, safety, and flexibility and through modern analytics engines driven by IoT sensors, meters, and programmable logic controllers.

One key partnership demonstrating the potential of collaboration is our work with the battery developer Northvolt. We’re working with Northvolt to digitise their entire value chain – from the design of the battery cell to production and services. The use of software and automation will enable Northvolt to build an advanced factory capable of making batteries with a low carbon footprint.

Siemens’ digital twin technology helps our customers envision the battery in the virtual world before the first one is ever produced — allowing manufacturers to test the battery and look at its characteristics in the design phase. This same technology can be applied to the production line to test layouts, look for efficiencies and test the stresses and the limits of what that production process is going to bring.

How can energy use for producing batteries be improved? How can the sustainability of battery production be improved? Could you give some examples of improvements?

There are ways to improve energy efficiency throughout the entire battery value chain. Looking at the process first from the facility itself and the building envelope, the incorporation of renewables and distributed energy resources can help the facility become more efficient and energy dependent. Connect these resources with an energy management software system and now you have usage data that can be used to employ optimisation strategies. When looking at the production process, digital twins can help create efficient products without wasting resources in the initial design phase – this is true all the way down to the recycling process.

How will AI impact battery manufacturing? Can it lead to improvements that will improve costs?

We foresee manufacturers utilising AI to teach robots to do the repetitive and maybe even dangerous parts of the job of disassembling batteries for recycling purposes. With the application of technology, by bringing additional tools into the manufacturing environment, we have the potential to make every human more productive. AI can also help reprogram machines faster and in natural language that will upskill workers on the shopfloor and allow for more efficient use of valuable resources.