LG Energy Solution and Hyundai Motor Group are reviewing a plan to apply Z-stacking in their joint battery factory in the US, TheElec has learned.
The pair’s joint factory in Indonesia, HLI Green Power, has already applied the method, which stacks battery materials cathodes and anodes alternatively on the separator. The separator is stacked in a “Z” shape, hence the name.
LG Energy Solution’s current preferred method is lamination and stacking, or L&S, in which the battery materials cathode, anode and separator are laminated together first before being stacked.
Back in 2021, the South Korean battery maker pushed to adopt the method in Indonesia as well but Hyundai Motor insisted on applying Z-stacking instead, sources said.
LG Energy Solution internally calls its Z-stacking method AZS, which stands for Advanced Z-Stacking, which sped up the process of stacking.
L&S has higher productivity than Z-Stacking, meaning more batteries are made at a set time, and can use the internal space of a battery efficiently.
However, during the lamination process, the separator may be wrongly aligned. LG Energy Solution has developed an upgraded version of its L&S method called ALS, or Advanced Lamination and Stacking, that resolved this issue.
The sources said while battery makers will continue to develop new production methods, their automobile customers are also researching battery production technologies and are more likely to opt to have their battery cell suppliers use their preferred method going forward.
