{"id":58619,"date":"2025-11-05T08:00:58","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T13:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/?p=58619"},"modified":"2025-12-08T13:56:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T18:56:12","slug":"how-am-batteries-is-reshaping-battery-production","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/2025\/11\/how-am-batteries-is-reshaping-battery-production.html","title":{"rendered":"How AM Batteries is Reshaping Battery Production"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recognized in Time magazine\u2019s Best Inventions of 2024, AM Batteries<\/a> has quickly established itself as the leader in dry battery-electrode (DBE) manufacturing technology for lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles (EVs), grid-scale storage, and consumer electronics. The company\u2019s innovative Powder to Electrode\u2122 dry coating method sprays dry active material directly onto current collectors, eliminating the toxic solvents and energy-intensive dryers required by traditional wet slurry processes. (A current collector is a thin metal foil, usually aluminum or copper, that carries electrons in and out of a battery\u2019s active material.)<\/p>\n

To understand the impact of AM Batteries\u2019 innovation, consider the wider EV battery landscape.<\/p>\n

Wet slurry electrode manufacturing requires N-Methylpyrrolidone (NMP) solvent, which is classified as a Substance of Very High Concern by the\u00a0European Chemicals Agency\u00a0under the REACH regulation due to its toxicity to human reproduction.\u00a0Additionally, the United States Environmental Protection Agency has identified NMP as presenting an unreasonable risk of harm to human health under the\u00a0Toxic Substances Control Act.<\/p>\n

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A More Sustainable Way to Manufacture<\/strong><\/p>\n

The dry electrode manufacturing process being developed by AM Batteries eliminates the NMP solvent entirely. Its advantages have become clear as Tesla, LG Energy Solution, and other companies have invested in DBE. On the manufacturing side, DBE use enables a safer and more efficient process by reducing energy consumption and eliminating toxic solvents. On the technological side, DBE enables higher energy density and scalability for large-scale battery production.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the DBE manufacturing process reduces capital expenditures by up to 40 percent and operating expenses by more than 50 percent. DBE can also shrink the battery factory footprint by five times and cut energy costs by 75 percent. Because global demand for batteries is skyrocketing, AM Batteries is well-positioned to enable cleaner, faster, and more affordable manufacturing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Getting the Right Tools for Growth<\/strong><\/p>\n

Founded in 2020 and based in Billerica, Massachusetts, AM Batteries initially relied on Autodesk\u00ae Inventor\u00ae product development tools, but the limitations became clear by 2024. Mechanical Engineer and CAD Administrator Joel Hauerwas explained that AM Batteries had reached a point where it needed to improve data management, development, and release processes.<\/p>\n

With Inventor, revision tracking was cumbersome, release processes were messy, and product data lacked automation. \u201cProduct design data was being managed in the Inventor vault, which offered little to no automation,\u201d Hauerwas explains. \u201cRevision tracking was difficult, and the drawings and product release processes were messy. In advance of commercialization of our technology, we needed to improve data management and automate our release processes to support manufacturing.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2024, AM Batteries replaced Inventor with 3D<\/strong>EXPERIENCE\u00ae SOLIDWORKS\u00ae<\/a> and a portfolio of connected applications, including Manufacturing Definition Creator<\/a> and Shop Floor Programmer<\/a>. AM Batteries migrated 15 GB of data from the Inventor vault to the cloud with the help of SOLIDWORKS reseller GoEngineer.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore we moved to data management on the 3D<\/strong>EXPERIENCE platform in the cloud, it was difficult to know the state of a product or what additional metadata might be associated with a part,\u201d Hauerwas recalls. \u201cThe really great thing about 3D<\/strong>EXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS \u2026is that it\u2019s not just a CAD tool, but also a PDM tool.\u201d By centralizing data and processes, AM Batteries can now manage part numbering, drawing release, engineering change orders (ECOs), and safety manuals within the same environment.<\/p>\n

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Standardization, Automation, and Acceleration<\/strong><\/p>\n

With the move to SOLIDWORKS on the 3D<\/strong>EXPERIENCE platform, AM Batteries cut engineering response times in half by automating engineering change requests and ECO workflows. The team also simplified drawing reviews for new manufacturing equipment and made it easier to share and iterate on designs, which sped up collaboration among the engineering team.<\/p>\n

Standardized templates that update automatically across the organization save additional time. This shift represents more than just a technical upgrade. As Joel Hauerwas explained, \u201cNow templates are automated and standardized, so everyone\u2019s using the same shared templates that are linked to the 3D<\/strong>EXPERIENCE platform.\u201d That change alone has strengthened revision control, improved searchability, and streamlined release processes.<\/p>\n

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As demand for lithium-ion batteries accelerates, dry-electrode manufacturing is emerging as the industry\u2019s future. Powered by the 3D<\/strong>EXPERIENCE platform and supported by GoEngineer, AM Batteries is not just inventing cleaner, faster, and cheaper batteries, it\u2019s showing the world how to commercialize them.<\/p>\n

If you would like more information about 3D<\/strong>EXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS and other product development tools, contact your local reseller<\/a>. You can read the full case study here:\u00a0https:\/\/www.solidworks.com\/customer-story\/how-dry-electrode-technology-reshaping-battery-production\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Innovative energy storage and battery manufacturing company drives collaboration, efficiency, and automation with SOLIDWORKS and the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.<\/p>\n... Continued<\/a>","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":58613,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2933,563,50,26,826,14,4219,18],"tags":[2062,5162,5163,811,5165,3783,5164,3549,19,5166],"class_list":["post-58619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-3dexperience","category-cloud-computing","category-collaboration","category-customer-stories","category-dassault-systmes","category-design","category-shop-floor-programmer-manufacturing","category-solidworks","tag-3dexperience-platform","tag-am-batteries","tag-dry-battery-electrode-dbe","tag-goengineer","tag-lithium-ion-batteries","tag-manufacturing-definition-creator","tag-powder-to-electrode","tag-shop-floor-programmer","tag-solidworks-2","tag-sustainable-battery-manufacturing"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58619"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59170,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58619\/revisions\/59170"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}