The engineering company Manz has received an order from an unnamed US electric vehicle manufacturer for an assembly line for battery modules made of round cells in the lower double-digit million euro range. The first lines are to be installed in 2021.
Manz sets itself apart from its competitors with a laser process for welding round cells into modules. According to CEO Martin Drasch, the customer relies on Manz’s BLS 500 laser platform and LightAssembly modular assembly platform. For the time being, the machine specialist from Reutlingen is not disclosing any further facts about the order.
However, in an accompanying press release, Manz sprinkles in a few more references to the customer. For example, it is a promising US pioneer of electric mobility and a new customer for Manz. And Manz talks about highly efficient round cells that the customer uses and the great market potential that these cells have from the German company’s point of view.
The fact is that there are rather few electric car manufacturers that rely exclusively on round cells. However, the best-known proponent of this cell format is Tesla, to which the evidence would also fit. However, this is an uncertain conclusion. The Californian company uses round cells of the 18650 and 2170 type and introduced an even larger and more powerful round cell called 4680 only a few months ago. In contrast, German carmakers, for example, tend to rely on prismatic cells and pouch cells.
However, it is also interesting to note that this is a new customer for Manz: the first rumors that Manz was supplying Tesla already existed years ago in the run-up to the construction of Gigafactory 1 in Nevada. If Tesla is already a customer of Manz, Tesla is ruled out here.
