2 minute read - 17th May 2022
REE Automotive makes progress towards commercial production
REE Automotive has made progress towards commercial production, having proven its robotic assembly capabilities, the core of its CapEx-light and highly-automated integration centre manufacturing approach. REE plans to implement the cloud-based robotic assembly lines at its network of highly-digitalised global manufacturing plants with the first in its European Integration Centre in Coventry.
REE’s Coventry Integration Centre will serve customer demand in Europe with an initial focus on the P7 electric platform for commercial vehicles such as walk-in delivery vans, buses, and recreational vehicles. The Coventry site will also operate as the blueprint for all future REE Integration Centres, with expected capacity of 10,000 vehicle sets (40,000 REEcorners™) this year.
The North American Integration Centre in Austin, Texas is expected to double global capacity to 20,000 vehicle sets in 2023 by replicating the automated cloud-based architecture of its European sibling.
REE Automotive has made progress towards commercial production with its robotic manufacturing approach / Picture: REE Automotive
The company is partnering with specialists including Rockwell Automation and Expert Technologies for robotics and automated assembly, with the first assembly line expected to become operational in the second half of 2022.
REE is implementing line-side controls from Rockwell Automation and is creating further efficiencies and savings through the adoption of the Plex Manufacturing Execution System. The Plex cloud-based solution’s ability to deliver full visibility into production operations enables scalable manufacturing locally and across global Integration Centres.
Josh Tech, REE’s chief operating officer, said: “This is an important milestone on our path to commercial production next year. The automated and connected capabilities at our Coventry site are a great foundation for our global operations, as they will enable us to continuously fine-tune our assembly procedures and rapidly deploy them to other sites. Our cloud-based robotic manufacturing system will be the digital backbone for our assembly lines and give us the local capability to manage our customer-specific manufacturing operations, while also allowing us to quickly share and scale best practices internationally across all plants.”
REE expects its initial capacity to be 10,000 vehicle sets by the end of the year and to double this in 2023 / Picture: REE Automotive
The Integration Centre is approximately 130,000 square feet and will be partially powered by solar energy.
Peter Dow, REE vice president of engineering, added: “We have a world-class team of highly skilled designers and engineers who are leading the design, development and production of our innovative current and future technologies. Our team is doing tremendous work toward commercialisation of our REEcorner™ technology with P7 corner and platform builds. This establishment of the Coventry Integration Centre marks a pivotal moment in the commercialisation of REE’s innovative REEcorner™ technology and EV platforms, with prototype on-track testing of its P7 platform having commenced this year.”