Electric vehicles need longer range and lower prices to compete with internal-combustion cars, but nearly 40% of an EV’s cost comes from its battery cells. That has spurred interest in dry electrode coating, a manufacturing method that eliminates liquid solvents in electrode production and promises lower cost, reduced energy use, and more compact factories, tells IEEE Spectrum. Traditional wet coating processes involve mixing active materials with solvents, applying the slurry to metal foils, and then evaporating the liquid—steps that add complexity, increase energy demand, and incur additional expense. Removing this wet stage could simplify production and cut costs for battery makers.
In principle, dry coating uses fine powders of active materials, conductive additives, and binders blended together and applied directly to a current collector without solvents. That avoids ovens, drying steps, and solvent recovery systems, which together account for a large share of manufacturing footprint and energy use in current gigafactories. Smaller, modular dry coating machines could fit into garages or small shops, enabling flexible scaling by adding units rather than building huge solvent-handling facilities.
Beyond cost and energy savings, dry electrode processes support thicker electrodes, a key lever for higher energy density in lithium-ion cells. Thicker coatings increase the proportion of active materials relative to inactive elements such as separators and current collectors, pushing up both gravimetric and volumetric energy density. That translates into batteries capable of delivering more range without enlarging packs.
Executing dry coating at scale has been challenging because it demands uniform mixing of powders, strong adhesion to foils, and control of heat and friction that can degrade materials. Multiple engineering approaches are under development to tackle these hurdles, and startups such as Anaphite and Sakuù are exploring complementary paths toward commercial dry coating solutions.
If these technologies succeed, they could reshape battery manufacturing for EVs and grid storage by making cells cheaper, factories smaller, and production more sustainable. That would move electrification closer to mainstream adoption by addressing the cost and infrastructure barriers that currently slow broad uptake.