LG Energy to apply new production platform at Ultium Cells

LG Energy Solution will be applying its new production platform Dreamline 2.0 for factories run by Ultium Cells, its joint venture with General Motors, TheElec has learned.

The adoption of the platform is expected to increase initial yield rate and productivity by 20% compared to its predecessor.

Dreamline 2.0 increases the automation rate throughout the battery production process and applies new high-capacity, high-speed equipment.

The platform will be applied to Ultium Cells’ first factory in Lordstown, Ohio as well as the second factory planned to be built at Spring Hill, Tennessee.

Dreamline is a platform focused on increasing yield, productivity and automation of battery production line.

LG had developed the 1.0 version first, then the 1.5 version. Dreamline 1.0 was applied to its factory in Nanjing, China and Dreamline 1.5 was applied to its factory in Wroclaw, Poland.

LG has been testing Dreamline 2.0 in low volume, then large volume, at its factory at Ochang, South Korea.

Dreamline 2.0 improves on the unstable yield rate problem LG faced at its factory in Poland. Mixing equipment is upgraded to 2,300 liters. It will later to be further upgraded to 3,000 liters. The electrode equipment used for the platform can handle 1,400mm width foils and coat at a rate of 120 meters per minute.

In assembly, the platform uses notching equipment for plus and minus tabs. The new method, which uses lasers, has three times the speed of conventional press notching. The laser equipment operates a 90 meters per minute instead of the previous 30 meters per minute.

LG will also be applying vertical degassing. The method prevents electrolyte from leaking __ horizontal degassing caused 8 grams of electrolyte per cell. This wasted electrolyte amounted to tens of millions of dollars in waste per year. The new degassing equipment is shorter at around mid-20 meters instead of the previous 45 meters.

Overall, Dreamline 2.0 increases productivity by 20% and improves unit prices by 30%, a person familiar with the matter said. Adoption of the platform will allow LG to avoid problems during production ramp up in the early stages of a factory’s operation, they added.