Challenges and Opportunities for Laser Applications in Electric Vehicle Manufacturing

The ever-growing demand for electric vehicles in the world and Europe will result in a significant socio-economical change. The electrification changes the material types, usage, manufacturing, and vehicle design. The contemporary electric drives are being used in various vehicles, such as automobiles, drones, trains, airplanes, and ships. These vehicles will require a lower weight, an extended maximum range, and faster recharging as the number of vehicles in use increases. Compared to vehicles powered with combustion engines, fewer components will be placed with increased demand in flexible welding, heat treatment, cutting, trimming, and texturing applications. The need for rapid changes in the vehicle models and the variety of components will be resolved through highly digitalized, flexible, adaptable, and reliable manufacturing processes. From this point of view, laser-based manufacturing is an essential solution, placing this family of processes as the conventional method in electric vehicle manufacturing. Today, lasers are used in various applications, such as hairpin stripping and welding, cutting and texturing of Lithium-ion electrodes, welding of battery busbars, and cutting of composite materials. The rapid reduction of the costs of laser sources, optics, and components in the last decade facilitated the adoption of laser systems in electric vehicle manufacturing. Although laser technology has reached the required maturity, the system developers and the end-users still need to catch up with the pace of the growing demand in electric vehicle manufacturing. This white paper highlights the challenges and opportunities regarding the main laser-based manufacturing processes for electric vehicle production.