BREYER says it has supplied the calendering technology for V4Smart, the battery joint venture formed by Porsche and VARTA to produce cylindrical lithium-ion cells in Germany for high-performance applications including sports cars and hybrid models.
Calendering is one of the key steps in electrode manufacturing: after the slurry is coated and dried, the electrode passes through precision rollers that compress it to a controlled thickness and density. That step has a big effect on porosity, adhesion and consistency from cell to cell. In other words, if you want high-performance cells, the calender is not just another box on the line—it is one of the places where performance gets locked in.
According to BREYER, its calendering lines are designed to deliver the dimensional accuracy needed for consistent cell performance while keeping scrap low, and have been integrated into V4Smart’s highly automated production environment at sites in Ellwangen and Nördlingen. The company says the production setup was established in a short time and is largely digitized and automated.
A major part of the project is a plant-wide track-and-trace system. BREYER says every individual battery cell is digitally tracked through all process steps via a higher-level control system, with production data continuously recorded, expanded and passed to the next manufacturing step. That kind of traceability matters in performance-oriented cell manufacturing, where tight batch control is essential and the end application does not leave much room for variation.
The broader argument in the announcement is industrial rather than just equipment-specific: BREYER is positioning V4Smart as evidence that high-performance battery factories can be built quickly in Europe, not just in Asia. VARTA Microbattery served as general contractor for V4Smart and Porsche and was responsible for the planning, construction, and commissioning of the electrode and cell production facilities.
Source: BREYER
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