Clamping plates for battery manufacture

A clamping apparatus for use in a laser welding system, the clamping apparatus comprising:

• a support part having a clamping face;
• a plurality of clamping elements extending from the clamping face;
• and
• a plurality of spring elements, wherein:
• each of the plurality of clamping elements is mounted on a respective spring element of the plurality of spring elements;
• each of the plurality of clamping elements is arranged to provide a compressive force to a respective connection tab of a busbar assembly when a compressive force is applied to the support part, to press each respective connection tab onto a corresponding terminal of an electrical cell of a cell array;
• and
• each spring element is configured to compress when the compressive force is applied to the support part and when the corresponding clamping element mounted on the spring element contacts the respective connection tab to be laser welded.