Published May 9, 2012
By Jeff Cobb
Today in Gaimersheim near Ingolstadt, Germany, Audi AG announced the opening of its high-voltage battery project house with the goal of “setting new standards” for lithium-ion batteries intended for its pending Audi e-tron line.
Working with battery cell supplier Panasonic and other companies, Audi has hired around 100 electronics experts, and will continue to create new tech jobs for the 37,700 square-foot facility.
At the “competence center” as it’s also called, Audi will develop and produce prototype and small-series high-voltage batteries plus related hardware and software initially for its R8 e-tron and A1 e-tron fleet batteries.
This, the company says, is part of a manufacturing thrust toward electric mobility in which Audi aims to offer an e-tron model in every automotive segment by 2020.
“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.”
By collaborating and producing in-house, Audi says it will secure new jobs through new business segments while also creating a visible symbolic bridge traversing the gap toward the electrification of the automobile.
“The close collaboration in the high-voltage battery project house paves the way for
efficient, sustainable series production of electric cars,” said 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.”
Construction of the new project house located 1.2 miles from Audi’s main Ingolstadt plant began April 2010 and the company says a major priority is the safety for those working there, while ensuring high quality and presumably also, cost-effectiveness.
