Bosch to produce Aussie EV battery tech

The world’s biggest automotive supplier, Robert Bosch, has signed up to build a plant to make breakthrough graphene aluminium-ion (G+AI) batteries developed by Brisbane’s Graphene Manufacturing Group (GMG).

GMG has signed a letter of intent with Bosch to industrialise the company’s energy-dense, recyclable batteries, with production of coin cells slated for the end of this year.

The pouch cells favoured by electric car makers will follow around 2024.

While GMG and Bosch have yet to announce a location for the ground-breaking battery plant, it is expected to be in Australia.

The pilot plant equipment for the new factory is already in GMG’s hands, with construction expected to begin shortly.

“We are proud and excited to be partnering with Bosch,” said GMG managing director and CEO, Craig Nicol.

“They are a major, world leading company in this space with outstanding capability to help provide highly automated, efficient and reliable battery manufacturing plants.

“It has been great working with the Bosch Australia team so far and we look forward to building a strong long-term partnership with them.”

Nicol says GMG is on track to produce its coin cells before Christmas this year, and is also working with Bosch on a commercial-scale battery plant in parallel with the first plant.

The agreement will see Bosch’s Australian subsidiary supporting the industrialisation of GMG’s highly efficient battery cells in a fully automated plant.

The agreement will also see Bosch becoming GMG’s go-to supplier for engineering, design and construction of future coin cell and pouch pack G+AI production facilities around the world.

“We are delighted to have been chosen by GMG as its long-term factory automation partner,” said Bosch Australia president, Gavin Smith.

“We are excited to bring Bosch’s world class technology and expertise to support GMG commercialise its innovative battery technology, with an automated coin cell manufacturing plant the first cab off the ranks.”

GMG’s G+AI cell chemistry promises ultra-fast charging that could eradicate range anxiety from the list of negatives for prospective EV owners, charging up to 60 times quicker than the best current lithium-ion cells.

The G+AI cells also hold three times the energy of the best aluminium-based rival cells and, with no upper Ampere limit, they are not prone to thermal runaway fires.

They are also far easier to recycle than lithium-ion batteries and all the materials needed to manufacture them can be found in Australia, under Australian control.

The company, listed on the Canadian Stock Exchange, is validating its coin cells charging in 10 seconds in prototype form now with a market launch next year.

Its pouch cells – the type used on most EVs (Tesla remains the exception) – are due to roll out in 2024.

The new cell technology, Nicol insisted, could also be industrialised to fit inside current lithium-ion battery housings, like the Volkswagen Group’s MEB architecture, heading off problems with car-industry architectures that tend to be used for up to 20 years.

“Ours will be the same shape and voltage as the current lithium-ion cells, or we can move to whatever shape is necessary,” Nicol confirmed.

“It’s a direct replacement that charges so fast it’s basically a super-capacitor.

“Some lithium-ion cells can’t do more than 1.5 to 2 amps or you can blow up the battery, but our technology has no theoretical limit.”

Aluminum-ion battery cells are a hot bed of development, particularly for automotive use.

Recent projects alone have included a collaboration between China’s Dalian University of Technology and the University of Nebraska, plus others from Cornell University, Clemson University, the University of Maryland, Stanford University, the Zhejiang University’s Department of Polymer Science and the European Alion industrial consortium.

The differences are highly technical, but the GMG cells use graphene from made from its proprietary plasma process, rather than traditional graphite sourcing, and the result is three times the energy density of the next-best cell, from Stanford University.

The GMG process is based on breakthrough technology from the University of Queensland’s (UQ) Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, and it uses nanotechnology to insert aluminum atoms inside tiny perforations in graphene planes.

They don’t use rare-earth materials and will be lighter in use than lithium-ion batteries because they won’t require the cooling demands, which can make up 20 per cent of a modern battery pack.

“So far there are no temperature problems. Twenty percent of a lithium-ion battery pack [in a vehicle] is to do with cooling them. There is a very high chance that we won’t need that cooling or heating at all,” claimed Nicol.

“They don’t need circuits for cooling or heating, which currently accounts for about 80kg in a 100kWh pack.”

GMG isn’t a dedicated battery company, though. It makes its main living by cracking methane (natural gas) to produce graphene and hydrogen, instead of mining graphene.