As international automakers make the high-profile transition to electrical automobiles, the Canadian automation firm ATS Corp. is quietly carving out a distinct segment by constructing the meeting traces that allow automakers to piece collectively the batteries.

The battery pack tucked beneath the ground of a typical EV has about 6,500 cells, and the automated traces made by ATS can produce one in all these packs in simply 60 seconds, mentioned Udo Panenka, president of business automation on the Cambridge, Ont.-based firm.

“Which means you will have 13,000 welds that it’s essential to produce in a single minute,” Panenka mentioned. “If one weld is flawed, the vary of the car drops by 1.7 per cent, and other people don’t wish to have the vary dropping.”

The stakes are larger nonetheless, on condition that lots of ATS’ clients run their automated traces 24/7, producing US$1 billion to $2 billion price of battery packs per yr on every line.

Bulletins of big-ticket battery vegetation have develop into commonplace throughout North America solely up to now few years, however ATS has been designing and constructing automated battery traces for about 15 years, mentioned firm CEO Andrew Hider.

As EVs have transitioned from smaller-scale manufacturing to the mass market, the corporate has expanded its core know-how and has been pushed by clients that want specialised options for his or her batteries, Hider informed Automotive Information Canada.

“Usually these clients are making these massive bulletins, after which they’ve obtained to determine [execution] out,” he mentioned.

‘SUPERAGGRESSIVE TIMELINES’

With the auto business shifting to EVs at excessive velocity, battery tasks contain fast-changing know-how and “superaggressive timelines,” Panenka mentioned.

“All the pieces adjustments,” he mentioned. “Only one factor doesn’t change, and that’s the launch date.”

ATS has delivered greater than 110 battery meeting techniques to clients worldwide, with most of its early orders coming from Europe earlier than the current shift to North America. Many years earlier than the battery growth, ATS constructed automation tools for gearboxes, motors and different auto elements.

ATS, based in 1978, additionally makes automated traces for purchasers in well being care, the meals business, client merchandise and power. It formally rebranded as ATS Corp. in 2022, paring down from ATS Automation Tooling Techniques Inc.

ATS has six manufacturing vegetation in Canada and employs about 1,400 folks. Globally, it has greater than 50 manufacturing websites and greater than 6,000 workers.

Rising battery enterprise has added to this tally. In March 2022, for example, the corporate opened a pair of 240,000-square-foot (22,000-square-metre) vegetation on the outskirts of Columbus, Ohio, that may produce meeting traces for battery modules.

HOW TO PACK A BATTERY

Modules are an intermediate product within the EV battery manufacturing course of. A completed EV battery, which generally weighs 1,000 to 2,000 kilos (450 to 900 kilograms), is named a pack. It’s made up of a sequence of modules, that are orderly collections of battery cells.

ATS steps in on the module-assembly stage, after cells have been produced at both an adjoining or off-site cell-manufacturing plant.

The corporate’s automated course of, Panenka mentioned, begins with validating the incoming cells and sorting them to make sure solely cells with an identical electrical traits are positioned collectively. The cells are then linked, sometimes by means of high-speed laser welding, a course of that leaves no margin for error. As soon as pieced collectively, the gathering of cells is put in an enclosure, then cabling is inserted and cooling units are put in.

All through the manufacturing course of, ATS performs high quality checks.

“You wish to discover any potential points as early as potential,” Panenka mentioned. In any other case, you would get to the top of the road earlier than discovering a flaw, resulting in as a lot as $15,000 in wasted battery materials.

ATS meticulously data the manufacturing information for each module and pack constructed, conserving it to cross-check towards any issues that immediate a car recall months or years sooner or later.

The corporate additionally providers and updates its meeting traces. Even small course of enhancements can imply big financial savings on $2 billion price of battery packs per yr, Panenka mentioned.

ATS makes use of digital twin know-how to simulate adjustments earlier than upgrading the robotic code that runs the automated traces. This minimizes downtime in order that module and pack meeting can proceed working at capability.

With battery know-how persevering with to evolve, ATS additionally designs its traces to be upgradable for next-generation lithium ion batteries and the eventual shift to solid-state battery packs.

CUSTOMERS CONFIDENTIAL

ATS has constructed automated battery meeting traces for 12 automakers and battery producers. Hider cited confidentiality in not itemizing them, however Basic Motors is one.

As ATS reduce the ribbon at its new Ohio websites final yr, the corporate mentioned the vegetation would initially construct automated module traces for GM’s Ultium batteries.

Hider expects to see additional progress in ATS’s battery enterprise as EV adoption picks up velocity worldwide.

Over the previous yr, the corporate disclosed greater than $500 million in new EV battery system gross sales. As of Jan. 1, it had a $887 million backlog of orders in its transportation division, primarily pushed by the EV phase.