Sonplas GmbH, an established supplier of high-quality assembly and testing technology for the automotive industry and the Korean machine builder Clever Ltd., a successful manufacturer of production equipment for pouch cell manufacturing, will cooperate in the future on the dynamically growing European battery market.

Clever will make its extensive process and plant know-how in the field of electrode stacking, pouch degassing, folding, inspection and packaging exclusively available to its license partner Sonplas. Sonplas will design and optimize the systems to meet the requirements of the European market and will also carry out customer-specific adaptations.

The systems for the European market will be designed and built by Sonplas and will be supported by Sonplas service after delivery.

The European battery demand is currently growing very dynamically due to the increasing number of hybrid and electric vehicles registered, but also due to the growing number of decentralized power storage systems in combination with photovoltaic systems.

Currently the market is almost exclusively served by East Asian producers. In order to reduce this dependency, the EU has decided in 2019 to make available subsidies of 3.2 billion €, which are to be used to establish a European battery production as well as to develop the associated production technology.

By accessing the production technology available at the cooperation partner, Sonplas expects to have the best chances to gain a successful and lasting foothold in this pouch cell growth market.