Poland – At the IAA Transportation event (September 17-22) in Hanover, Bartek Kras, co-founder and Vice President of Polish battery manufacturer, Impact Clean Power Technology SA (ICPT) of Warsaw, announced that its new USD 35 million battery manufacturing facility (“GigafactoryX”) has started production. The new highly automated 16,000 sqm battery pack manufacturing facility produces lithium-ion batteries for heavy-duty applications. The site will increase Impact’s generating capacity to 1.2 GWh in 2024 with the aim of achieving an annual production capacity of 5 GWh by 2027. 1.2 GWh translates into 16,000 complete battery systems, with a complete heavy-duty battery system produced every 11 minutes. This was up from a capacity of 2,500 batteries per annum in the previous location, which was a rented factory in the suburbs of Warsaw.

GigafactoryX houses offices, a battery R&D centre and of course fully automated battery pack manufacturing lines. Kras said that it is important to integrate research and development activities with manufacturing, to scale up production capacities.  Automation at GigafactoryX encompasses key processes like assembly, batching, bolting, vision inspection, and comprehensive testing to ensure consistent product quality. The system allows batteries to be safely removed at any production stage, significantly enhancing safety protocols.