A major new battery manufacturing capability has been unveiled at the United States Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), marking a significant step forward in the development of next-generation energy storage technologies.
Researchers have activated a dedicated production line designed specifically for prismatic cells, a battery format increasingly viewed as critical for future grid-scale energy storage systems.
The new facility, located within PNNL’s Grid Storage Launchpad, enables scientists to produce and evaluate prismatic cells at a scale much closer to real-world commercial applications.
The capability is expected to help bridge the gap between laboratory research and industrial deployment by allowing researchers and private-sector partners to validate new battery designs before they reach the market.
With testing completed and operational procedures nearing finalisation, the production line will initially focus on manufacturing sodium-ion and lithium-iron-phosphate battery chemistries.
The resulting data will establish performance and safety benchmarks while demonstrating the viability of scaling advanced battery technologies from small laboratory prototypes to larger commercial formats.
The newly commissioned production line occupies approximately 1,400 square feet and consists of 16 specialised pieces of equipment. It represents the first prismatic cell manufacturing line established within the US national laboratory system.
One of the facility’s most distinctive features is its ultra-low-humidity environment. Battery materials are highly sensitive to moisture, and even trace amounts of water can negatively affect performance and reliability.
To prevent contamination, the entire prismatic cell production line operates inside a dry laboratory where humidity levels are lower than those found in some of the driest regions on Earth.
The advanced setup enables researchers to move beyond small-scale battery experiments and assess how promising chemistries perform when manufactured in larger, commercially relevant formats.
Battery cells are produced in several formats, including coin, pouch and cylindrical designs. While each serves different applications, prismatic cells are attracting growing attention within the energy storage sector.
Unlike cylindrical batteries, prismatic cells feature a rectangular shape enclosed within a rigid metal casing. This design offers several advantages for large-scale energy storage projects.
The metal enclosure improves heat dissipation, helping reduce overheating risks and enhancing overall safety. Better thermal management is particularly important for grid-scale systems, where thousands of cells may operate simultaneously under demanding conditions.
Prismatic cells also deliver packaging efficiency benefits. Their rectangular shape allows them to be stacked more effectively than cylindrical alternatives, enabling greater energy density at the battery pack level.
By fitting more energy into a smaller footprint, developers can reduce installation space requirements and potentially lower system costs.
Industry experts view these characteristics as important factors driving increased adoption of prismatic cells in utility-scale energy storage applications.
One of the biggest challenges in battery development is transitioning from small experimental cells to larger commercial products.
A battery chemistry that performs well inside a tiny laboratory coin cell may behave very differently when scaled up to a much larger format. Manufacturing processes, material distribution, heat management and mechanical stability all become increasingly complex as battery size increases.
The new prismatic cell line is designed specifically to address this challenge. Researchers can now manufacture larger battery cells using kilogram-scale quantities of active materials rather than the milligram quantities typically used in laboratory testing.
This capability provides valuable insight into whether promising battery technologies can maintain performance, reliability and safety as they move closer to commercial production.
To demonstrate the new platform’s capabilities, PNNL researchers will begin by producing two types of prismatic cells.
The first uses sodium-ion chemistry, which has attracted significant interest because sodium is far more abundant and widely available than lithium. This could help reduce supply chain pressures and lower costs for future grid storage projects.
The second relies on lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) technology, a chemistry already gaining popularity due to its strong safety profile and reliance on more readily available materials such as iron rather than nickel and cobalt.
Both battery types will undergo extensive testing under varying operating conditions to evaluate performance, durability and safety.
Beyond internal research, the facility is expected to serve as a resource for private battery developers seeking independent validation of emerging technologies.
By providing pilot-scale manufacturing and testing capabilities, PNNL aims to help companies de-risk promising battery concepts before investing in full-scale commercial production.
As demand for reliable energy storage continues to grow alongside renewable power generation, the new production line positions prismatic cells at the centre of efforts to develop safer, more efficient and commercially viable battery technologies for the modern electricity grid.
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