Italy – Italian industrial automation company, Comau, part of global automaker, Stellantis, headquartered in Turin, has announced plans to develop an energy-efficient cell formation chamber as part of its work with GIGABAT, a pan-European initiative aimed at supporting the sustainable and ecological transition towards e-Mobility. GIGABAT seeks to consolidate a large-scale European battery cell manufacturing value chain, with Comau and the other consortium members.

Comau’s is to develop battery cell formation technology that delivers electric and thermal energy savings of up to 20% compared with other technology on the market. This will involve the recovery and reuse of excess heat and electricity produced during the multi-day cell activation procedure. To do so, the company will leverage innovative power distribution systems and energy-efficient power electronics (PE) to avoid energy losses while reducing overall energy demand. Comau says it will also rely on its proprietary algorithms to further optimise the lengthy and highly complex cell formation process.