NoVOC “Ask the expert” series with Buket Boz Hofman from the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT)
Have you ever wondered why we can’t go straight from lab to factory?
Before a battery innovation reaches full-scale production, it must be tested in pilot-scale facilities to optimize performance, reliability, and manufacturing efficiency. This step ensures that new materials and processes are scalable and meet industry standards.
As part of our NoVOC “Ask the expert” series, Buket explains why pilot-scale validation is crucial for the successful market entry of a new battery.
From Lab Bench to Battery Lines
Before a new battery technology can reach gigafactories and electric vehicles, it must first pass through pilot-scale validation.
This critical step ensures that processes developed in the lab can be successfully scaled up while maintaining performance, efficiency, and sustainability. Pilot-scale production allows researchers to test how materials behave under realistic manufacturing conditions, optimize coating, drying, and calendaring processes, and identify potential challenges before committing to full-scale industrial production. Without this step, moving directly from lab to factory would be risky, expensive, and could lead to inefficient or inconsistent battery performance.
Bridging the Gap Between Research and Industry
Our partners at AIT (Austrian Institute of Technology) specialize in testing and optimizing battery production processes at pilot scale, bridging the gap between research and industrial deployment.
In the NoVOC project, AIT is responsible for pre-pilot validation of aqueous processed electrodes, ensuring that these VOC-free manufacturing techniques are ready for large-scale production at partners like ABEE and Customcells Innovation.
Ready for the Real World
By validating coating uniformity, drying efficiency, and electrode stability, AIT helps ensure that NoVOC’s innovative, solvent-free production methods meet industry standards and can be scaled up successfully.
This is a major step toward cleaner, more sustainable European battery manufacturing—one that supports the transition to a greener energy future.
