Comau bets on the battery industry and collaborates with the Americans from Intecells

Comau's industrial focus on electric mobility and the development of technologies to accelerate the global energy transition. The company, led by CEO Pietro Gorlier and chaired by Alessandro Nasi, is a national leader in the robotics and automation sector. It is taking part in The Battery Show Europe 2025 in Stuttgart until 5 June, and is announcing a collaboration with the Americans from Intecells to make the process of producing battery electrodes more efficient and simplify the process using cold plasma technology.

The challenge for the company, which has its headquarters in Turin and is controlled by One Equity Partners, with Stellantis as a minority shareholder, is to intercept the new industrial drivers linked to battery production and help make production processes more efficient and sustainable. Comau is therefore working to provide the market with an approach and technologies capable of covering the entire life cycle of the battery, from the formation (electrochemical activation) of the cells to the assembly of modules and battery packs, through to testing, disassembly and recycling.

"Innovation represents an essential component in the development of our technologies and must take into account several factors, particularly in a changing market such as that of electric mobility, which must face the challenge of reducing the cost not only of the product, but also of the process,' comments CEO Pietro Gorlier. 'It becomes necessary not only to offer companies the highest quality but also maximum flexibility, so as to reduce the impact of the investments currently required in the production processes,' he adds. 'Our collaboration with Intecells goes precisely in this direction and is aimed at offering an innovative process that, through the use of plasma to treat the electrodes, is cost-effective for customers wishing to integrate this new technology both for new cell production lines and on existing lines.

The approach taken by Intecells, in particular, eliminates the need for solvents and binders in the production cycle. In general, Comau will work with the Michigan-based company, which has patented an innovative application using cold plasma, to develop a cost-effective technological process for customers wishing to integrate this new technology into existing cell production lines.

The solution, based on cold plasma, reduces cycle time and energy consumption in the electrolyte impregnation (soaking) and drying phases, improving production quality across a wide range of battery types and sizes. In addition, the solution currently under development is significantly reducing process steps along the cell production chain with the aim of reducing investment by 50% and halving energy consumption and carbon emissions.