Vehicle Battery System Welding Inspection with Scania

Commercial vehicle battery systems contain a growing number of laser welds that are vital to the systems’ functionality. Assembling battery packs in-house requires a wide variety of welds. The welds have different performance needs, such as conductivity and structural properties. The quality of welds are vital to the function of the battery system, affecting the customer experience and the reliability of Scania BEV products, Therefore, robust quality assurance methods are critical to meeting Scania’s premium product standards. Currently, quality inspection of welding is a cumbersome process, as the battery system is taken out of the production line, cut apart, and inspected. The production line inspection is based on sampling. The combination of different welding needs and the high speed of the in-line laser welding process results in a need for more efficient quality control solutions.

Now, Scania wants to transition from traditional quality control means into non-intrusive and more scalable in-line inspection for battery systems. To reach this goal, we are seeking solution providers capable of inspecting different welds efficiently within a production environment. The envisioned solution should be able to characterize different structural and electrical properties of the weld, such as the overall quality of the weld, its minimum connection area and possible anomalies such as bubbles, cracks or holes. Overall, the preferred inspection solution should provide both speed and accuracy combined preferably with in-line, or alternatively after-production implementation. In addition, the solution should work in the vicinity of the cell and on welds that are either structural or electrically conducted.

As Scania has a key strategic focus on vehicle electrification, a partnership gives your company an opportunity to contribute to driving the industry’s transformation towards BEV adoption and the scaling of in-house battery pack production. Scania as a Traton Group company has a long-standing experience creating reliable vehicle systems and can provide your company with relevant industry know-how. In the case of a successful pilot and a proven offering, the selected solution is likely to be nominated in the factory and implemented in production. Different long-term collaboration models can be discussed, all the way from technology licensing and suppliership to co-development.