SACRAMENTO - LiCAP Technologies Inc. announce a new partnership with Dürr Systems AG, a leading global equipment manufacturer, to provide a patented, dry coating technology solution for battery electrode manufacturing, including both cathodes and anodes, to the global electric vehicle industry and energy storage sectors. Together, LiCAP and Dürr will develop manufacturing equipment solutions with the goal of enabling automotive and battery original equipment manufacturers around the world to advance to the next level in battery production.

On the road to industrialization, California-based technology startup LiCAP brings the patented Activated Dry Electrode® process and decades of dry electrode product expertise to the partnership. Dürr, with its long tradition in plant and mechanical engineering, brings the engineering and manufacturing expertise for machines to the partnership and helps to develop the process from pilot scale to series production. French company Ingecal, a new subsidiary of Dürr, brings expertise of calendering technology, one of the key technologies for dry coating equipment.

LiCAP president & CEO, Dr. Linda Zhong, said, “The LiCAP team is pleased to be commercializing its patented Activated Dry Electrode® process with the Dürr team to accelerate the global EV and energy storage future. Our tests, confirmed by our customers, show that Activated Dry Electrode® technology reduces battery costs significantly and increases environmental sustainability compared to existing electrode production methods while improving battery performance and charge times.”

Dürr CEO, Dr. Jochen Weyrauch, added, “Dürr is excited to be partnering with Dr. Zhong and the LiCAP team with the goal to provide this patented technology to the marketplace. Dürr is a renowned supplier of leading-edge manufacturing solutions to auto and battery manufacturers, and we can’t be happier to add this technology to our product suite. Our partnership aims at providing manufacturing technology to OEMs to reduce battery costs and improve performance, both of which are critical to the future of EVs and Battery OEMs.”

Background:

The first project of this partnership calls for Dürr to develop and manufacture the equipment for a one-gigawatt hour (1 GWh) electrode manufacturing line. The two companies anticipate delivering future 1 GWh and 5 GWh manufacturing lines to OEMs after the initial manufacturing line is completed.

The Activated Dry Electrode® process does not use toxic N-Methylpyrrolidone (NMP) solvent, eliminating very large wet coating and solvent recovery processes. In the new production line, LiCAP’s tests show that overall battery production costs can be decreased, and that significant savings can be realized in energy consumption, manufacturing footprint, and carbon footprint. LiCAP’s technology works consistently across a variety of battery chemistries, such as NMC, LFP, LMFP, LMO, graphite as well as Si-added graphite materials. The Activated Dry Electrode® process is also proven to be compatible when creating Catholyte for solid-state batteries.

Dürr Systems AG has a proven track record of high-quality equipment manufacturing and is a leading global brand. Both companies share a commitment to the global reduction of carbon emissions and the increase of green energy by applying their sustainable industry-changing technologies to the betterment of the battery industry.