Henkel opens first Battery Engineering Center
As a leading manufacturer of adhesives, sealants and functional coatings, Henkel has opened a pioneering Battery Engineering Center at its Inspiration Center Düsseldorf. The Adhesive Technologies business sector is thus highlighting its role as a globally unique design and innovation partner for automotive manufacturers and battery producers.
Henkel's new Battery Engineering Center comprises two high-tech facilities: the newly opened Battery Application Center and the Battery Test Center, which will be operational in 2024. The state-of-the-art labs have been custom-designed to drive the collaborative development of next-generation battery solutions for electric vehicles (EVs). The center is home to Henkel's EV battery experts, known industry-wide as the "Fuel the Future" team, focusing on key innovation areas such as safety, sustainability, thermal management, integrated battery design and battery cell technology. "With an investment volume of 130 million euros, we opened our Inspiration Center Düsseldorf last year, a state-of-the-art and unique global innovation and customer center for adhesive technologies. The new Battery Engineering Center illustrates our commitment to driving tailored innovation and technological progress in the field of electromobility," says George Kazantzis, Global Head of Henkel's Automotive Components Business Unit. "This state-of-the-art lab enables our 'Fuel the Future' team to further accelerate innovation by seamlessly integrating material application, 1:1 scale battery system testing, simulation and product development - all under one roof. This enables Henkel to significantly reduce development and time-to-market," adds Dr. Olaf Lammerschop, Global Technology Lead for E-Mobility at Henkel.
With the new facilities and technologies, the Battery Engineering Center is optimally equipped for battery assembly and disassembly, materials application, and advanced modeling and simulation, and also has advanced equipment to test batteries directly. This allows the performance of a battery pack to be comprehensively tested through temperature cycling, charging and discharging. Crucially, the data generated by this is incorporated directly by the simulation team, ensuring seamless integration of real-world testing and digital modeling. This powerful synergy offers Henkel's customers unparalleled flexibility as well as potential savings. It also streamlines and accelerates the design and material selection process. "Thanks to our investment in the Battery Engineering Center, we are able to create a digital twin of each battery and simulate its performance under different conditions," explains Kazantzis. "We then validate these simulations and our models through real-world load testing to ensure both the reliability of our data and the effectiveness of our solutions." As a pioneering project, the Battery Engineering Center in Düsseldorf represents just the beginning. Henkel plans to establish a global network of Battery Engineering Centers, with future sites in the USA and China.