DOE Initiates Battery Manufacturing Consortium to Enhance U.S. Supply Chain
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- Dronelife.com
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has launched a national consortium aimed at bolstering domestic battery manufacturing. Announced on October 28, the Battery Manufacturing Accelerator (BattMan) will address challenges in the U.S. drone industry by establishing a reliable and competitive domestic battery supply chain. The initiative involves collaboration among four national laboratories and five universities, led by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
This initiative is significant as it seeks to improve the quality and reduce the costs of battery production, which is crucial for various applications, including drones, transportation, and energy storage. By utilizing artificial intelligence, advanced sensors, and automated manufacturing systems, the consortium aims to minimize waste during battery electrode manufacturing, which currently has scrap rates as high as 40%. The goal is to reduce this to below 5% through enhanced monitoring and automated controls.
The consortium will conduct research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Battery Manufacturing Facility in Tennessee, focusing on both conventional lithium-ion and emerging battery technologies. The initiative is timely, as the U.S. government and private sector are striving to decrease reliance on imported drone components, with battery cells being a major hurdle. No further timeline was disclosed at the time of publication.
Original report
DOE Launches Battery Manufacturing Initiative to Strengthen U.S. Supply Chain
Dronelife.com · Miriam McNabbThis briefing is an independently written summary based on publicly available reporting and is provided for industry information and news discovery. The original report and source publication are credited and linked where applicable. RobotToday does not claim ownership of third-party source material.
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