Insights and Perspectives from the Laser eMobility Workshop in Bologna: Bonetto Automation and Industry Leaders Discuss Challenges, Trends, and New Applications of Laser Technologies for Electric Mobility
Over the past few years, as it has become one of the cornerstones for the production of components for e-mobility – including battery pack welding, electrode cutting, and busbar processing – laser technology has become a highly topical subject, given the growing focus on electric vehicles. With its ability to combine precision, flexibility, and digital control, lasers are a strategic asset for manufacturers of critical EV components.
At the Laser eMobility Workshop held at BI-REX in Bologna, key industry players – including laser source manufacturers, system integrators, and automotive companies – shared their insights on trends, challenges, and prospects for laser technologies in electric mobility. Here are the key points and the directions the sector is heading.
1. From prototyping to production: industrializing the laser
The first theme, introduced by Optoprim, concerned the gap between the technological maturity of lasers and the real ability to industrialize their processes. Many applications – such as busbar, foil, and battery module welding – are now well established, but transferring parameters from prototypes to production systems remains a challenge.
The lack of large-scale test infrastructures and shared standards makes it difficult to ensure consistent quality across different lines or plants. To overcome this, approaches combining rapid prototyping, advanced monitoring, and data-driven validation are needed, using optical sensors, tensile tests, and OCT.
Bonetto Automation, with its division Laser-Tech, operates at the intersection of research and production: its solutions are designed to reliably transfer experimental parameters into complex industrial environments, maintaining traceability and process stability over time. The company combines welding expertise with in-line verification systems, ensuring that every joint meets required parameters – a critical aspect in the automotive sector.
Our expertise in determining busbar welding parameters enables a faster transition from prototype testing to mass production, with in-line monitoring ensuring that every joint meets automotive requirements.
2. Smart lasers and predictive quality
Today, laser source evolution cannot be separated from digital control and artificial intelligence. Solutions from companies like nLight, IPG Photonics, Trumpf, and Lessmüller demonstrate how lasers can become “intelligent” systems capable of detecting, interpreting, and correcting their operating conditions in real time.
Integrated optical sensors and OCT systems capture millions of data points per second and compare them with reference models, allowing minimal deviations to be anticipated before they become defects. Advanced software platforms then automatically optimize parameters such as power, speed, keyhole depth, and joint geometry.
Bonetto integrates this approach with Digital Twin and Virtual Commissioning, extending digital simulation to laser processes to predict system behavior before production, reducing setup times and ensuring stability from the first cycle.
3. Managing complex materials and technological innovations
Copper, aluminum, and advanced alloys are increasingly central in battery and EV motor construction. Blue, dual-beam, and multi-spot sources developed by companies such as Laserline, MAXphotonics, and IPG have revolutionized the ability to weld high-reflectivity materials, enabling precise beam modulation to control melting, minimize spatter, and reduce surface defects.
The benefits include cleaner joints, more stable processes, and cycle times up to 70% faster than traditional methods. For Bonetto, which develops dedicated laser systems for welding EV modules and battery packs, these innovations ensure greater integration flexibility and high-quality standards even in real production environments.
4. Emerging trends: precision, sustainability and new applications
Among the most promising technological trends for the coming years are directions already approaching industrial production:
- Ultrashort lasers (Femto/Pico) for cutting anodes, cathodes, and separators: clean processes without thermal damage and speeds up to 12 m/s, ideal for multilayer electrodes.
- IR lasers for electrode coating drying, capable of replacing roll-to-roll ovens and drastically reducing footprint and process times.
- Additive manufacturing on copper with blue lasers for compact, conductive components.
- Looking ahead, integrating hybrid electric/combustion approaches and simplified battery design for truly sustainable electric mobility.
From technological trend to industrial practice: Bonetto’s role in battery pack production
The trends highlighted at the Laser eMobility Workshop clearly show that laser technology is evolving toward intelligent, adaptive systems capable of handling complex materials with high precision. Transforming these innovations into real production requires expertise and infrastructure that link research and prototyping to large-scale manufacturing.
In this context, Bonetto, through its Laser-Tech division, positions itself as a strategic partner for companies in the e-mobility sector, providing support throughout the entire battery pack lifecycle. From engineering and design to small-batch prototyping and series production, Bonetto integrates advanced laser solutions, robotics, and modular automation to ensure quality, traceability, and process repeatability. Additionally, the company features an in-house laboratory equipped with a laser welding cell with an anthropomorphic robot and a 4 kW laser source with a scanning head, as well as a dedicated metallography area with a cutting machine, polishing machine, and optical microscope, enabling autonomous testing, analysis, and development activities.
Key steps include:
Engineering and Battery Pack Design
Bonetto assists companies from the initial phase, collaborating to define product design, select materials, determine busbar thickness, and establish optimal welding setups.
Small-Lot Prototyping
Thanks to its internal laboratory and plant, Bonetto produces small prototype batches to allow validation of the battery pack, configuration testing, and verification of welding parameters before industrial-scale production.
Series Production
For high-volume manufacturing, Bonetto provides dedicated laser welding cells integrated into automated modular lines, ensuring precision, repeatability, and traceability with high quality and productivity standards.
An example is the Laser-Flex 1000 for large-scale production:
Conclusion
Electric mobility is redefining production paradigms. Lasers, with their precision, flexibility, and ability to integrate with digital systems, have become the core of this industrial ecosystem. Through its Laser-Tech division, Bonetto Automation supports companies in implementing modular, traceable, and scalable automation systems.
Participation in the Laser eMobility Workshop confirmed that collaboration among laser manufacturers, system integrators, and automotive companies is key to turning research and innovation into tangible industrial results. Bonetto will continue to invest in this synergy, bringing the experience, technologies, and shared vision from the event into its own production facilities.
💬 Want to discover how Bonetto Laser-Tech solutions can improve your battery welding or assembly processes? Contact us at sales@bonettoautomazioni.com: our technical team is ready to analyze your needs and develop the laser solution best suited to your production line.
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