Contributed Commentary by Eric Symon, Panasonic Connect North America
July 29, 2025 | We’re past the midway point of the calendar year, and a mixed outlook remains for the future of electric vehicles in the United States and globally. Q2 revealed growth for some manufacturers, declines for others, and a cautious outlook for the rest of the year stateside amid announcements that would roll back discounts for consumers.
This, of course, directly impacts EV battery manufacturing. As expected, there have been plant closures and other delays in 2025, while other manufacturers are continuing to push forward with production and future innovation (for example, LFP batteries).
While it is true that battery production needs will be determined by vehicle interest, there are two sides to this coin. An electric vehicle and hybrid future will only go as far as battery innovation takes it. Smaller cells, longer lasting units, and more mileage are the desired outcomes that will drive even greater adoption to make EVs a more reliable, practical, and long-lasting vehicle option.
To achieve this, the industry will need innovation in battery composition, chemical mix, and recycling and reuse to make electric vehicles a more attractive proposition. This will push manufacturing to new heights as manufacturers digitize and modernize to keep pace.
Leverage MES/DMP Systems for Greater Operational Efficiency
We’ve seen a mixture of manufacturing execution systems (MES) and digital manufacturing platforms (DMP) have success in the broader manufacturing world. The ability to optimize end-to-end manufacturing is a core requirement to stay competitive and profitable in today’s chaotic supply chain. As such, it’s a no-brainer that EV battery manufacturers (and EV automative manufacturers) will find success leveraging these solutions if they haven’t already. For new plants to be built, it goes without saying that an MES or DMP solution will be part of the rollout to connect disparate systems, material inputs, and machines from the first to last step of the manufacturing process.
However, there are caveats to consider when ensuring success in this highly complex line of EV battery production that manufacturing decision makers need to account for. Processes like chemical mixing can stress manufacturing lines. These mixes are in flux and are beholden to the materials and inputs that are incredibly specific for batteries. Not to mention, continued innovation means that batteries built today will not be the batteries built tomorrow. Therefore, any MES or DMP deployment should be done through a critical lens.
For example, is the solution able to model batch, discrete, and hybrid types of complex processes in one factory? This is important to remain agile and avoid waste. Can it manage traceability down to the individual cell level? This is critical to managing all raw inputs that comprise an EV battery’s “chemical slurry” and proactively address issues early on in the production process. These are the kinds of questions to ask when making important management decisions.
Do More with Data
As precision machinery, automation, and robotics proliferate on the EV battery manufacturing floor, more data is being produced than ever before. Connected machines that leverage sensors, for example, consistently generate data. The race is on for businesses to better capture that data, accurately and with speed, and feed it back into improving the manufacturing process.
This is critical to allow manufacturers to take advantage of new aggregation and analytics tools that are being modeled and built every day. This includes digital twins for scenario planning, edge computing for faster reporting and decision making, and artificial intelligence (running trained algorithms) for a proactive approach to repairs, diagnostics, and performance.
With an ongoing talent shortage and resulting labor gap, getting these tools up and running takes on even greater importance. EV battery manufacturing is a relatively new space in the United States, and it requires not only the right machinery, materials, and software, but also the right engineers, chemists, and technologists. Other nations are more experienced in the space, so it’s important that manufacturers find stability by building processes and systems for how things should work. Then, recruiting and retaining talent—and plugging in talent that may come from other industries—becomes a more realistic proposition.
Remain Agile in the Face of Change
Stating the obvious, this industry, while incrementally moving forward, continues to face challenges en route to its destination. It is still believed that electric vehicles will play a part in this country’s automotive future, but how and what that looks like remains in a constant state of flux and under intense discussion. Capitalizing on today while being prepared to tackle tomorrow requires agility.
It’s okay to start small and scale when deploying new systems and processes, such as MES or DMP, for example. In fact, in many situations, it can be advised. EV battery manufacturing is highly complex and intricate, and evolving every day. Deploying small proofs of concept or trials when revamping systems and processes is one of the most effective ways to realize time to value and scale with confidence across the entire production line. From there, businesses can find and understand where there are opportunities and advantages gained from managing a complex production line through the right software.
While we don’t have a crystal ball, innovation in battery design will be a catalyst for EV growth in the United States. With that innovation comes a need to produce—and to do so with speed, accuracy, and efficiency to remain competitive in a challenging environment.
MES/DMP systems, doing more with data, and remaining agile are the tip of the iceberg, as well as areas where manufacturing leadership can drive change.
Eric Symon is head of smart manufacturing at Panasonic Connect North America. Eric has held executive positions at market-leading software and professional services companies delivering value through digital transformation to customers in manufacturing, aerospace and defense, and retail industries. Eric holds a B.S. from the Pennsylvania State University. He can be reached at Eric.Symon@us.panasonic.com.
