High-voltage battery
technology at Audi: Core competence at the Ingolstadt site
Inauguration of
high-voltage battery project house From concept through to battery
testing – everything under a single roof Michael Dick, Board Member for
Technical Development: “A major step toward electric mobility”
Foreground: An
employee checks the contact wipers on battery cells. Background:
Electrical final assembly of an R8 e-tron battery.
Ingolstadt - Research,
development and testing for the lithium-ion battery: AUDI AG is setting
new standards in the development of high-voltage (HV) technology. On the
eve of its 123rd Annual General Meeting, the Company opened its
high-voltage battery project house in Gaimersheim near Ingolstadt. In
this competence center, Development, Production and partner companies
are working together for the first time to construct a prototype for
these special battery cells.
“The new high-voltage battery project
house is another major step toward electric mobility for our company,”
says Michael Dick, Member of the Board of Management for Technical
Development. “Here we are building up important development and
manufacturing expertise for high-voltage batteries with a view to future
model series. At the same time, we are ensuring that they meet Audi’s
exacting quality requirements.” Alongside the production of prototypes,
future small-series production is another conceivable option.
Automotive electrification has a
substantial impact on the production process: “The close collaboration
in the high-voltage battery project house paves the way for efficient,
sustainable series production of electric cars,” emphasizes Frank Dreves,
Member of the Board of Management for Production. “New technologies
constitute new areas of value creation for Audi. Production must be
involved right from the initial product cycle in order to move to series
production quickly and reliably.”
Peter Mosch, Chairman of the General Works
Council of AUDI AG: “For the workforce this project house is an
important investment in securing jobs through new business segments and
increasing the depth of value added. This visibly symbolizes bridging
the gap to electric mobility. And this opens up many opportunities,
particularly for employees. New vocational qualification profiles and
new, highly qualified jobs are being created. We intend to take full
advantage of these opportunities. In this respect, the high-voltage
battery competence center will make its contribution.”
The project house for the high-voltage
battery technology is located two kilometers from the Ingolstadt plant.
Around 100 electronics experts newly hired by Audi specifically for this
project work at the facility, which covers 3,500 square meters.
Panasonic is a key external partner and is responsible for supplying the
battery cells. The basic concept behind this competence center is to
promote close collaboration between all the disciplines involved in
high-voltage technology. BFFT Gesellschaft für Fahrzeugtechnik mbH was
responsible for the detailed planning of the high-voltage battery
project house. Particular attention was paid to safety in terms of using
the sensitive equipment. Construction began in April 2010 and was
completed in May this year.
The key areas of focus of the high-voltage
battery project house include:
•The high-voltage (HV) testing area:
testing of HV batteries at cell, module and system level
•The battery pilot plant facility:
prototyping and small-series production of HV battery systems
•The design and development of own
hardware and software for all components
•The development and manufacture of
batteries for the Audi R8 e-tron and all Audi A1 e-tron fleet batteries
The name “Audi e-tron” is the Audi brand
name for electric mobility. The electric drive and the requisite
high-voltage technology constitute an important component of Strategy
2020 for Audi. Audi’s aim is to offer an e-tron model in every segment
by then.
