Kore Power picks Honeywell to automate battery plant

Honeywell announced Mar. 22 that lithium-ion battery (LIB) manufacturer Kore Power will deploy Honeywell’s end-to-end, integrated, digitalized Battery Manufacturing Excellence Platform (MXP) at the KorePlex gigafactory in Arizona.

In a recent report, the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) stated that the traditional approach to lithium-ion cell manufacturing comprises many inefficient manual operations, leading facilities to commonly operate at a 70% production yield at steady-state. As a principal manufacturer of battery cells and modules for the energy storage and e-mobility sectors, Kore reports it’s essential for it to implement efficient and sustainable production practices.

With continuous closed-loop control, MXP will enable Kore to visualize and control its entire LIB production process in real-time, including mixing, coating, assembly and formation-finishing areas. This centralized approach will let Kore reach its target capacity faster, while improving production yields and safety.

Honeywell reports that MXP lets users scale up and achieve steady-state operations with superior yields starting from the first day of operations. Coupled with production optimization and improved efficiencies, MXP reduces energy consumption, enabling users to reduce their carbon footprint. The platform also provides online quality management with complete production traceability/genealogy of the cells produced. Information about Honeywell’s integrated manufacturing systems for lithium-ion battery production is available at https://process.honeywell.com/us/en/industries/sheet-manufacturing/lithium-ion-batteries.

KorePlex will be the first fully digitized and integrated lithium-ion cell manufacturing facility using MXP. By employing Honeywell’s proven expertise across related industries, such as life sciences and sheet manufacturing, this platform builds on existing technologies to fit the requirements for lithium-ion cell production.

“KorePlex will be one of the first gigafactories utilizing increased automation to integrate end-to-end production verification and quality management for battery cell and module production, helping us increase our capacity through environmentally sustainable production practices,” said Lindsay Gorrill, CEO of Kore Power.

The KorePlex facility is expected to be operational in early 2025, and will be among the first U.S. gigafactories built independently of an automotive OEM, enabling the facility to supply cells to a wide range of customers, from innovative e-mobility startups to utility customers seeking to improve reliability with energy storage. KorePlex is expected to have an annual production capacity of 12 GWh of high-density lithium-ion cells, with lines committed to both NMC and LFP chemistries.