Batteries International — Issue 128, Summer 2023

For the last 15 years, the lead battery industry has been trying to come to terms with its potential usurper, lithium ion in all its shapes and forms. Most of the major firms have made real headway in their understanding but there’s still a long way to go. It’s always been about choosing the right chemistry for the right product.

• In defence of lead … and lithium 54

• Lithium iron phosphate — the new BESS standard

• Sunlight Group: ‘What dilemma in moving between lithium and lead battery chemistries?’

• Amara Raja invests to grow beyond India

• Back to basics, the core lithium battery chemistries

EDITORIAL

The developed world vs the rest of the planet

John Goodenough, lithium battery pioneer: 1922-2023

PEOPLE

10

Taylor succeeds Longney as TBS group MD, Davis retires • Straw named director of new ENTEK Manufacturing unit • Doe Run promotes Mangogna to VP operations and COO • International Lead Medal awarded to ILA veteran Maura McDermott • Macchiarola joins ACP as chief policy officer • Metair makes interim CEO,CFO appointments permanent • Oliver Gross appointed senior fellow at Stellantis • EUROBAT’s Westgeest steps down, Meylemans takes over as GM • Skyllas-Kazacos joins Tivan advisory group • Roden joins ENTEK International as North America account manager

NEWS

17

Lead batteries still no.1 recycled product in US, new study shows• Battery equipment firm CMWTEC plans new factory

• Gravita recycling plant back in operation after India cyclone • The ONE Minute Giveback returns for 20ABC in Cambodia • Amara Raja wins $130m solar plant contract for Bangladesh • EU leaders formally agree new Batteries Regulation • WaveTech’s CCT takes lead battery technology into Indonesian telecoms • Lead-air performance boost for Port Pirie operating licence

• Clean energy switch needs ‘$4tn and historic mining expansion by 2030’ • ABC, Quench partnership signals ‘important development’ for EV charging stations in US • Windfall benefits for Tesla as IRA kicks in • Breathing space for lead in REACH talks • Global refined lead metal demand exceeds supply in first quarter • BCI revamps Source BCI • Leoch to cooperate on solid-state batteries with Chinese university • Banner posts battery sales record despite ‘burdensome EU red tape’ • Brill Power unveils ‘chemistry-agnostic’ battery booster tech • Gopher Resource joins materials recovery tech consortium in US • Trafigura silent on Stolberg output as smelter restarts • Strong start for EnerSys in sustainability checks • Yuasa, Honda step up joint venture battery plans • Sustainability certification boost for Birla Carbon’s Italy facility • Amara Raja posts pre-tax profit rise • Clarios completes refinancings to extend debt maturity profile • $22m overtime pay verdict for East Penn • Amara Raja breaks ground for giga-corridor complex

RECYCLING NEWS

33

• ACE Green in lead recycling licensing deal with Hakurnas • US $192m boost for Li R&D, battery recycling, innovation

Altilium, Marubeni plan EV battery recycling partnership

• Gravita expands LAB processing capacity in Chittoor • Study to consider switch from lead to Li recycling at Glencore’s Portovesme • Hoppecke in Li recycling agreement with Huayou

• Sunlight plant set to double lead recycling

• Fortum, Terrafame launch battery material recycling partnership

Farewell to John Goodenough

Ace Green in licensing deal

McDermott wins lead medal

Leoch to work with university on solid state battery

ENERGY STORAGE NEWS 49

• Canada agrees battery incentives deal for Stellantis, LGES plant

Pexapark backs solar-BESS agreement ‘first’ for UK

• SVOLT breaks ground for Thai battery plant

• California close to 6GW online BESS milestone

• Yuasa BESS goes live for Japan wind power project

• European Court of Auditors warns on EU battery ambitions

• EU batteries chief on guard over battery subsidies in China, US

• Report reveals €13bn cost of Europe battery materials plan

• PowerCo’s COO Wolf joins Batteries Event

• Morrow loan deal boost for for giga plans in Norway

• Fitch upgrades China’s CATL to A- rating

• Australia critical minerals blueprint launched

• €500m R&D cash awaits EU battery projects

• Emeren, Matrix partnering for BESS in Italy

• ESS in 50MW iron flow Germany battery project

• India to review EV policy amid lithium ion over reliance on China

•

• ABB starts up 50MW BESS in Philippines Morrow opens Norway R&D hub • Schuler project to expand battery sector expertise • Slovenia gets EU green light for BESS state aid • KORE Power set for $850m US battery cells plant loan • Toray investment ‘to boost Korean separators business’ • Posco de-risks battery material supply chain with EcoGraf deal • Redflow to supply California microgrid flow battery • ACC opens flagship gigafactory in France • Powin selects Jabil to produce BESS in US • €4m expansion plan for BMZ’s Visatronic • Brazil takes Li investments drive to NYSE • Russian EV, ESS battery prototypes ‘ready this year’

Nano One in LFP collaboration with Our Next Energy

PROFILE: CBI

76

The Consortium for Battery Innovation is seeking to tap 20% of the burgeoning $550 billion ESS market NEUTRON

Pat Moseley and David Rand dig deeper into the structures at the heart of the lead battery

79

Our definitive guide to the global conferences and exhibitions in the months ahead

Missing in action • Big brother is watching you! • ABC and HUSK, conference bags with a difference

• NewsDonkeyTM our latest recruit for investigative journalism

Publisher

Karen Hampton karen@batteriesinternational.com

+44 7792 852 337

Editor-in-Chief

Michael Halls editor@batteriesinternational.com

+44 7977 016 918

Advertising director Jade Beevor jade@batteriesinternational.com

Editor John Shepherd john@batteriesinternational.com

+44 7470 046 601

Researcher, journalist Frances Jones frances@batteriesinternational.com

Finance administrator

Juanita Anderson juanita@batteriesinternational.com

Subscriptions, enquiries subscriptions@batteriesinternational.com admin@batteriesinternational.com

Production/design

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The developed world vs the rest of the planet

It’s the latest and possibly the last great myth of the 21st century: climate change is containable and even reversible through concerted human action.

And the frantic drive into renewables and its corollary energy storage — for this read the battery business — will save the planet.

From simple manufacturers of an essential component in modern and industrial life, we, collectively, have become visionaries for the future and saviours of mankind. That pesky carbon dioxide and that tricky global warming will be solved by our engineers, our entrepreneurs and not-forgetting our everresourceful innovators.

But one question doesn’t seem to be attracting much attention. And that’s whether the huge sums of money being committed to reducing emissions are worth the effort?

Certainly, it sounds the case when listening to the soundbites of politicians, that salvation is at hand. US president Joe Biden last year called the signing of the Inflation Reduction Act committing the country to huge tax breaks as the “biggest step forward on climate change ever.” The Brookings Institution, a think-tank, reckons the final cost of the package will top $1 trillion and almost three times larger than the US government estimate of $369 billion. The IRA, said Brookings, “ has the potential to lower energy costs, contribute to lower inflation, increase productivity, and raise economic output over time.”

It might be nice to think this is the case. The fact is that though the developed world — essentially North America, Japan and Europe —

is making huge strides in reducing its emissions of CO2 levels, it is still a far-cry from carbon neutrality.

And meanwhile any shortfall created is being picked up elsewhere. Given what’s happening in other parts of the world, this is going to be just a drop removed from an ever-growing ocean of greenhouse gases.

Batteries International is not a climate-change denier, nor do we believe our drive into renewables and energy storage is a waste of money, time or effort.

However, on a planet of almost 8 billion people our efforts are not, so far, enough — failure of a sort will become inevitable.

The emerging world will not hesitate to put climate change lower down a list of priorities that contains elements such as better health care, education and a better standard of living, A quick look at their growing needs is reflected on their targets for climate neutrality — China aims for its CO2 emissions to peak by 2030 (and which already emits roughly a third of all climate change gases) and to be carbon neutral by 2060.

China provides more than half of the world’s steel and cement, but the CO2 emissions from just those two sectors in China are higher than the European Union’s total CO2 emissions.

India, with a similar population of around 1.4 billion souls, is aiming for climate neutrality by 2070. Already in 2022 India’s emissions are higher than that of Europe in its entirety.

The move into electric vehicles across the developed world is unlikely to make much of

China provides more than half of the world’s steel and cement, but the CO2 emissions from just those two sectors are higher than Europe’s total CO2 emissions.

a dent into the emissions from those two countries — auto manufacturers may boast that some 500 EV types will be launched in the next five years but China’s own cement and steel manufacturing already accounts for more than the whole of the emissions from Europe.

There’s also no need to simplify the world into the good guys and the bad ones — the developed North versus this pair of the environmentally irresponsible two. The fact is the rest of the developing world is on the same trajectory as China and India. We tut, tut — hypocritically — at our peril about emerging nations’ irresponsibility in wanting a standard of living closer to ours at the expense of the environment.

Robert Bryce, the commentator, points to the issue of energy inequality in his brilliant and highly recommended blog, https://robertbryce.substack. com.

“The average American consumes 20 times more energy per year than the average resident of Africa, … there are 1.4 billion Africans, who, on average, consume about 600kWh of electricity per head, per year. The average American consumes that every three weeks.”

He writes: “The average American consumes 20 times more energy per year than the average resident of Africa, and four times more than the average of Asia. There are 1.4 billion Africans, who, on average, consume about 600kWh of electricity per head, per year. The average American consumes that much electricity every three weeks.

“The reductions in the US and Western Europe are being swamped by increases in the rest of the world, and in particular, in India and China. Thus, the big challenge facing the world is not how many Teslas are being sold in Marin County, but how many coal plants are going to be built in Bangladesh, Cambodia, and other desperately poor countries.”

He points out that nearly 19 gigawatts of new

coal-fired capacity was brought online last year, with the biggest new additions happening in India, Japan, and Pakistan. Between 2000 and 2022, global CO2 emissions increased by 10,700 million tonnes. Of that increase, about 10,300 million tonnes occurred in the AsiaPacific region.

So where does this all leave the battery industry? First the good times will continue for lead manufacturers and, if the world supply of the huge quantities of metals required holds up, the lithium battery manufacturers will do excellently too.

But we shouldn’t deceive ourselves as being visionaries of the future or saviours of the planet. Or not yet anyway.

Mike Halls, Editor-in-Chief

John Bannister Goodenough, 1922-2023: 'A life well lived'

We are sad to report that John Goodenough, father of the lithium ion cell, and one of the three figures that created today’s huge lithium battery industry, died on June 25 a month short of his 101st birthday.

John, who was interviewed several times for Batteries International, was awarded the joint Nobel Prize for Chemistry in October 2019 with the two other pioneers of the lithium battery, Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino.

In our subsequent interviews with Whittingham and Yoshino each acknowledged the huge debt the world owes to Goodenough who discovered the cathode material of choice and so made the lithium ion battery truly portable and rechargeable.

“John was an unassuming, modest and gentle man whose work has touched everyone’s life,” said Bob Galyen, the former CTO of CATL and a friend. “It was a life well lived and John had an intellect of astonishing proportions and his contributions to science extend well beyond the lithium cell.”

Oddly enough for someone whose research has ended up in the household or pocket of most of the planet, he was regarded as a backward child. It was only much later that it was found that he was dyslexic and he later described how he dealt with this problem by studying abstract mathematical thought and Greek and Latin.

Aged 18 he left school as top of his class and received a scholarship to Yale. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, he volunteered for service, but was not called up until January 1943. This gave him time to complete his undergraduate degree in mathematics. He had entered Yale as a freshman with a background in Latin and Greek and little idea of what he would do after the war was over.

He graduated while working as a meteorologist in the US Air Force. A crisis of faith around this time led him to dedicate himself to a life of service starting with studying physics at the University of Chicago or Northwestern University.

“When I arrived at Chicago the registration officer, professor Simpson, said to me, “I don’t understand you veterans. Don’t you know that anyone who has ever done anything interesting in phys-

ics had already done it by the time he was your age; and you? You want to begin?”

Undeterred, he earned a master’s degree in 1951 and a doctorate the following year.

Ground breaking

For the next six decades his astonishing academic career and research led him from his early work at MIT on computer memory to the University of Oxford in his 50s where most of his ground-breaking work on lithium cells was pioneered. The last three decades of his life were at the University of Texas, where he held the Virginia H Cockrell centennial chair in engineering.

He was still working until his late 90s and in the last years of his life was pioneering a solid state battery.

As recently as 2017 he announced patents for new battery cells using a solid glass electrolyte instead of a liquid one, using an alkali metal anode. The glass electrolytes allow for the substitution of low-cost sodium for lithium. This had the possibility of being a second worldchanger to the energy storage industry.

Caring little for money, John signed away most of his rights. He shared patents with colleagues and donated stipends that came with his awards to research and scholarships.

He was married to Irene Wiseman for 65 years. She died in 2016. In the latter part of her life he would work at the university in the morning and visit her

care home in the afternoons, she suffered from dementia.

In addition to being a Nobel laureate John was feted internationally being a member of the US National Academy of Engineering a member of the National Academy of Sciences, French Academy of Sciences, the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Sciences.

He wrote more than 800 articles for scientific journals, 85 chapters and eight books. He was a co-recipient of the 2009 Enrico Fermi Award and elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society and was presented with the National Medal of Science by US president Barack Obama.

Among his many publications is a very personal one: “Witness to Grace”, in which he describes how his intellectual journey had also included “a religious quest for meaning in what or whom I would choose to serve with my life.” He was born into an agnostic family but during the war years he developed a faith and was a devout Christian to the end of his life.

Career development

To return to his spectacular career: the crucial point in Goodenough’s researches and associated lithium battery’s development was when he was offered a position of professor and head of the Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory at Oxford University.

Up till then. Goodenough had been

We also offer matching terminal bolts

working as a research scientist at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory where he had been part of an interdisciplinary team that developed the first random-access memory (RHM) for the digital computer.

His fundamental research had focused on magnetism and on the metal–insulator transition behaviour in transitionmetal oxides. He also developed a set of semi-empirical rules to predict magnetism in these materials in the 1950s and 1960s, now called the Goodenough–Kanamori rules which is a core property for high-temperature superconductivity.

Goodenough’s contribution was to the development of the ferrimagnetic, ceramic memory element, a contribution that put him in charge of a ceramics laboratory and that gave him a decade in which to explore the magnetic, transport, and structural properties of transition-metal compounds.

MIT Lincoln Laboratory

In 1952, he joined the group at MIT Lincoln Laboratory charged with the development of a ferrimagnetic ceramic to enable the first random-access memory (RAM) for the digital computer.

“The air defence of this country depended on having a large digital computer, and the computer had no memory!” Goodenough later said.

“The rolled alloy tapes first tried did not switch fast enough. Although the Europeans who had developed ferrimagnetic spinels were convinced that it would be impossible to obtain the required squarish B-H hysteresis loop in a polycrystalline ceramic, the magneticcore RAM was delivered within three years of my arrival with a read/rewrite cycle time of less than the required six microseconds.”

In the course of this work, Goodenough showed how cooperative orbital ordering gives rise to crystal distortions, and he used this ordering to articulate the rules for the sign of the spin-spin magnetic interactions in solids.

These rules have subsequently provided a true guide to the design as well as the interpretation of the magnetic properties of solids; they are known as the Goodenough-Kanamori rules, and they inspired the title of Goodenough’s first book, Magnetism and the Chemical Bond.

Although these were astounding advances in both physics and chemistry. It was his appointment to Oxford University in 1976 that so much came together.

Once there, Goodenough recognized that the layered sulfides would not give the voltage needed to compete with

batteries using a conventional aqueous electrolyte, but that an oxide would provide a significantly higher voltage.

From previous work, he knew that layered oxides analogous to the layered sulfides would not be stable, but that discharged LiMO2 oxides could have the same structural architecture as discharged LiTiS2

Goodenough assigned a visiting physicist from Japan, Koichi Mizushima, the task of working with Goodenough’s postdoc, Philip Wiseman, and a student, Philip Jones, to explore how much Li could be extracted reversibly from layered LiMO2 cathodes, and with M = Co and Ni he found he could extract electrochemically over 50% of the Li at a voltage of around 4.0V versus a lithium anode, nearly double that for the sulfides, before the oxides began to evolve oxygen.

Their groundbreaking findings with Li1-xCoO2 were published in the Materials Research Bulletin 15, 783-789, (1980).

The report concluded with the statement, “Further characteristics of the intrinsic and extrinsic properties of this new system are being made.”

However, when Goodenough went to patent his cathodes, no battery company in the UK, Europe, or the US was interested in assembling a battery with a discharged cathode, so he gave the patent to the AERE Harwell Laboratory.

Nevertheless, with his postdoc Peter Bruce, now a professor in St Andrews, Scotland, and a new student, MGSK Thomas, Goodenough continued in Oxford to demonstrate that the Li+-ion mobility in Li1-xCoO2 is even higher than that in the sulfide cathode LiTiS2.

The wireless revolution

This finding meant that a Li1-xCoO2 cathode would provide the needed voltages and rates that would usher in what was later termed the “wireless revolution”.

Meanwhile, Rachid Yazami in Switzerland, exploring Li insertion into graphite, reported that a discharged graphite anode did not have a problem with dendrites if the carbon/LiCoO2 cells were not charged too rapidly, and Akira Yoshino in Japan then assembled the discharged cell Carbon/LiCoO2 to demonstrate the Li-ion battery that was licensed to the SONY Corporation, which marketed with it the first cell telephone.

Today, almost everyone from five years upwards has an application of this battery in his or her pockets.

Michael Thackeray was working on

the Zebra battery (see Batteries International passim), a modification of the sodium-sulfur battery, in South Africa when he read the article in the Materials Research Bulletin. He immediately applied for a sabbatical to work with Goodenough in Oxford.

He came to the city with the announcement that he was inserting Li reversibly into magnetite, the ferrimagnetic spinel Fe3O4 used by Greek sailors in an early version of the compass. He wished to replace cobalt, which is expensive and toxic, with iron, which is abundant and benign. The spinels A[B2]O4 contain a threedimensional framework of BO6/3 octahedra sharing edges; in the layered LiMO2 oxides they form 2-dimensional layers.

Spinel memory

The A atoms of a spinel occupy interstitial tetrahedral sites that are bridged by empty, face-sharing octahedra, and Goodenough realized from his earlier work on spinel memory elements that the Li inserted into Fe[Fe2]O4 was entering and displacing that interstitial A-site Fe into the bridging interstitial octahedral sites to create a rock-salt structure with the [Fe2]O4 framework remaining intact.

Bill David, at the Rutherford Laboratory, had just joined Goodenough’s group from the Clarendon with a PhD involving structural analysis, so he and Thackeray demonstrated that Goodenough’s hypothesis was correct.

Meanwhile, Goodenough told Thackeray to investigate the electrochemical reversible insertion of Li into the spinel Li[Mn2]O4; it gave a voltage of 3.0V versus lithium. Manganese is also abundant and benign.

On his return to South Africa, Thackeray showed his students that extraction of Li from Li[Mn2]O4 gives a voltage of 4.0 V versus lithium. A modification of the Li1-x[Mn2]O4 spinel cathode was later used by Nissan to power their Leaf electric car.

By then the next stage in the development of the lithium battery was complete. Akira Yoshino in 1985 fabricated the first prototype of the LIB and received the basic patent. This configuration was commercialized by Sony in 1991 and by A&T Battery in 1992.

“It’s rare that we’ll see a figure like John Goodenough again in our lifetimes,” said one commentator. “He had a life of modest and quiet achievement — a well lived life and with a legacy that the whole planet can thank him for.”

Taylor succeeds Longney as TBS group MD, Davis retires

at the Gloucestershire HQ.

In 2022, Taylor accepted a new role as group aftermarket director.

Longney said: “It was a difficult decision to step down, however, I believe in my time as MD we have moved the business forward in many ways, placing TBS in a strong competitive position for the future.

much-respected Paul Davis was retiring from the firm after 39 years.

Davis joined TBS in February 1984 as a service technician, moving to sales several years later.

UK-based TBS Engineering has announced the appointment of Richard Taylor as its new group MD following the announcement that David Longney will be stepping down.

TBS said on July 3 that Longney, who has worked with the company for nearly 40 years, had decided to make way for new leadership as TBS starts a new

phase of its development program.

However, Longney will remain a director of TBS and support Taylor in his new role.

Taylor has been with the company since 2019 when he joined as group operations director, responsible for all UK manufacturing operations, supply chain and facilities management

Straw named director of new ENTEK Manufacturing unit

turer and supplier of replacement wear parts in the industry.”

Straw will have profit and loss responsibility for the division and reports to Linda Campbell, VP of extrusion sales.

“I am confident that Richard will be a success in the role that I am leaving.”

Taylor said: “We have an exciting phase of growth planned and I want to keep TBS as a competitive market leader now and in the future.”

In a separate LinkedIn announcement on July 3, TBS announced that the

He travelled extensively on behalf of TBS for more than 20 years, becoming a well-known and respected member of the team among the global battery industry, TBS said.

Doe Run promotes Mangogna to VP operations and COO

The Doe Run Company, the mining group and natural resources firm, announced on June 28 it had promoted Brian Mangogna VP for mining and milling to be chief operating officer and VP for operations.

and mills.

Tammy Straw has been named as director of ENTEK Manufacturing’s new wear parts division, which will make and sell replacements for all brands of twin-screw extruders.

The June 9 announcement followed the February opening of ENTEK’s 98,000 ft2 manufacturing and engineering facility in Henderson in the US state of Nevada.

ENTEK Manufacturing president Kim Medford said the new division was key to the group becoming the number one manufac-

Straw has worked with ENTEK for 24 years and has been the company’s marketing and business development manager since 2016, also leading ENTEK’s inside sales team.

She is also the vice chair of the NPE sales and marketing committee for the US Plastics Industry Association.

Also joining the new Wear Parts Division is Kelsey Dennis, who will be responsible for wear parts sales. She has been with ENTEK since 2010, and most recently worked in customer support and inside sales.

Mangogna has spent almost 25 years with Doe Run, starting as a metallurgist, advancing over the years as mill superintendent, mill manager and general manager for the company’s Southeast Missouri (SEMO) Mining and Milling Division. In 2021 he joined the executive team and was promoted to VP of mining and milling.

In his new job he will oversee day-to-day operations for the company’s mining and metals operations, its battery recycling plant as well

as its mines

Mangogna said: “Doe Run has a long history of being a global provider of lead, copper and zinc — three base metals that enable modern society — but can also recover cobalt, nickel, tin and antimony from resources within our control, whether ore bodies or metals by-products. These metals have never been more important to US mineral security.

“I look forward to bringing forward new technologies to diversify and sustain our operations for future generations.”

International Lead Medal awarded to ILA veteran Maura McDermott

Maura McDermott, one of the International Lead Association’s longestserving employees, office and events manager, was awarded the International Lead Medal on June 22 at the Pb2023 conference in Athens.

The medal, the industry’s highest honour, marks her retirement after 35 years of service and in particular honours her unstinting work behind the scenes. She has been one of the key figures in making the events activities of the ILA — starting in 1990 with 2ELBC in Brussels, right up to 18ELBC in Lyon — an integral part of the lead battery industry calendar.

“It’ll be a shame to see her go,” one delegate at Pb2023 said to Batteries International . “She’s always been a well-liked and popular figure in the conferences — she’s been scrupulously fair with everyone even with some of the more difficult exhibitors who can be very pushy.

“She’s very much a landmark at our events and a welcome face too!”

Maura joined the Zinc and Lead Development Association in November 1988, as executive assistant to the chief executive, David Ward. She started work at the association’s offices in Berkeley Square, London.

Following a series of reorganizations, the Zinc Development Association moved to Birmingham, and Maura stayed at the International Lead Association, and worked as EA to David Wilson who was then managing director of

ILA until his retirement in 2012.

It was during this period that she helped induct a new ILA recruit, Andy Bush, who joined the association on completing his doctorate and eventually becoming managing director.

Commenting on her ca-

reer and the International Lead Award, she said: “It’s a real honour to be recognized by the industry to which I’ve devoted almost my entire career. It’s such a social and friendly industry, I will take with me many happy memories and just as many friends.

“I’ve enjoyed many

aspects of the job, but I’ll particularly miss the events and the colleagues and delegates who helped make them such a success.

“Keep the lead light burning!”

Andy Bush, ILA managing director, said: “In three and a half decades Maura has made a huge contribution to the work of the lead association helping to make two of the major conferences supporting our industry — Pb and ELBC — the leading events they are today. She has been a much loved and respected point-of-contact for so many members and partners, as well as our employees. She’ll be greatly missed.

“On behalf of the whole industry I would like to thank her for her unstinting loyalty and service over so many years and wish her a long and wellearned retirement.”

See our full Pb23 event report on page 88.

Frank Macchiarola joined the American Clean Power Association as chief policy officer on June 20, the trade organization announced.

Macchiarola, former senior VP of policy, economics and regulatory affairs at the American Petroleum Institute, is leading a team working on regulatory and legislative proposals to boost development of advanced clean energy technologies.

Jason Grumet, ACP’s

chief executive officer, said: “The clean energy sector is at a pivotal moment, and growing our team to embrace the opportunities before us

will ensure this industry has the bench strength in place to match the moment.”

ACP said in a report published last December that more than $40 billion of grid-scale clean energy investments, including several new battery storage plants, were announced in the US in the three months up to November 30 — underlining the impact of policies rolled out by the federal government.

Macchiarola joins ACP as chief policy officer

Metair moves interim CEO, CFO appointments to permanent positions

Interim CEO of battery and auto components group Metair Investments, Sjoerd Douwenga (pictured), has been appointed to the role permanently, the company said on May 31.

Interim CFO Anesh Jogia has also been appointed permanently. He will also work as executive director and a member of the firm’s investment committee.

The interim appointments of Douwenga and Jogia were announced in March, following the resignation of then CEO Riaz Haffejee.

Metair said the permanent appointments “will allow for a seamless leadership transition”.

The group’s energy storage division includes Tur-

ABTC appoints Deutsch as CFO

key’s Mutlu Akü lead battery business, Romanian lead and lithium company Rombat and South Africa’s First National Battery.

In March, Metair reiterated that plans to sell off the energy storage business remain suspended as a result of the geopolitical climate in Europe and global financial instability.

ECS award for Argonne Lab scientist Meng

Senior Argonne National Laboratory scientist Shirley Meng has been honoured by The Electrochemical Society for her work on battery tech innovations.

Argonne said on July 10 Meng will be presented with the ECS 2023 battery division research award in October, in recognition of her work on interfacial science, which has led to improved battery technologies.

Meng is chief scientist at the Argonne Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Science and is a professor at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at The University of Chicago.

Her research focuses primarily on energy storage materials and systems, specifically rechargeable bat-

teries for EVs and trucks, power sources for the internet of things and gridscale storage integration with renewables.

ECS highlighted two papers published last year by Meng in the Journal of The Electrochemical Society, one exploring the use of external mechanical pressure to regulate the growth of dendrites that form at the interfaces in batteries and lead to an electrical short.

The second paper looked at the process of lithium plating and stripping in rechargeable lithium batteries.

The battery division research award was established in 1958 to encourage excellence in battery and fuel cell research.

American Battery Technology Company said on May 22 it had appointed Jesse Deutsch as CFO.

Deutsch has more than 25 years of financial leadership experience including as a former CFO of global brands such as Kraft Foods.

He now oversees all financial operations of the company including those supporting an acceleration of battery recycling and battery metals manufacturing.

Deutsch, who has an MBA from New York Uni-

versity and a Bachelor of Science in economics from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, will also have responsibility for corporate functions including financial planning and analysis, accounting and controls, risk management, financial performance and revenue growth, investor relations, and reporting and compliance.

ABTC’s CEO Ryan Melsert said: “As we ramp up our commercial scale manufacturing operations over the coming months, we are excited to have such an experienced leader as Jesse join ABTC.

“We have an immense number of financial and strategic opportunities in front of us, and with this enhanced leadership team we are looking forward to driving them to execution.”

Deutsch’s appointment followed ABTC’s announcement in January that it had expanded its team toward commissioning of the firm’s lithium battery recycling plant.

Oliver Gross appointed senior fellow at Stellantis

Oliver Gross has been promoted to a new post as a senior fellow for energy storage and electrification at auto giant Stellantis.

Gross confirmed the appointment to Batteries International on May 12.

Gross is an expert in lithium ion and NiMH chemistries with a focus on motive applications.

His career to date has included being responsible for operations of analytical labs, electrical, environmental and abuse test labs, pilot lines and

supporting services.

Gross has also designed, developed and brought to manufacturing cells and modules for consumer electronics, military, aerospace, and automotive industries.

EUROBAT’s Westgeest steps down, Meylemans takes over as GM

Alfons Westgeest, general manager of EUROBAT, announced on June 5 he was stepping down and Gert Meylemans, previously director of communications, would take over.

Westgeest, who tried to retire four years ago but came back, has been a central figure in EUROBAT since his involvement in 2002 and arguably the key creator of the present trade organization.

Westgeest, a well-known and well-liked figure in all sections of the European energy storage industry, said he had enjoyed his time with EUROBAT.

“It’s not just been fun to build up and strengthen the organization but we have achieved real success in helping influence the direc-

tion of battery regulation across the EU.”

Marc Zoellner, president of EUROBAT and CEO of Hoppecke Batteries, in a touching speech at the conference dinner, paid tribute to Westgeest’s relentless commitment to building up EUROBAT and its members.

“I will truly miss him and thank him for the wonderful work he has done,” he said.

Meylemans, who joined EUROBAT in August 2018, said he had a very tough act to follow but “hoped to continue to build on the great work Alfons has done”.

EUROBAT — the association for European automotive and industrial battery manufacturers and

Skyllas-Kazacos joins Tivan advisory group

Vanadium redox flow battery pioneer Maria SkyllasKazacos has joined a new technical advisory group set up by minerals processing tech company Tivan.

Tivan said on May 31

Skyllas-Kazacos’s technical knowledge and experience would be keenly sought in developing and standardizing the global value chain in VRFB.

Other initial appointments to the group included Stéphane Leblanc and Simon Flowers.

Leblanc is a former MD of Rio Tinto Iron & Titanium. Flowers is the director and principal of Sustainergy Consulting and a former international team leader with US energy firm ConocoPhillips.

The group will provide independent technical advice to support development of two projects, including Tivan’s Mount Peake in Australia’s Northern Territory — which the company says has one of the largest flat-lying, shallow vanadium-titanium deposits in the country.

The other is the Speewah vanadium-titanium-iron project in Western Australia, of which Tivan acquired 100% ownership in April.

supply chain in EMEA — was formed in 1957 and was originally based in Switzerland.

But it was only when it moved to Brussels at the turn of the century that it became the lobbying and trade body that it is today.

EUROBAT is a non-profit association under Belgian law and is staffed by association management company Kellen. Westgeest became Kellen Europe’s board member for global develop-

ment in 2022.

Before EUROBAT, Westgeest was the founder and managing partner of Ernst & Young’s association management practice in 1988 in Brussels. He joined EY in 1981 and left the firm in 2004.

This year’s EUROBAT general assembly and convention was held on June 6-7 in Madrid.

See our event review towards the end of the magazine.

Roden joins ENTEK International as North America account manager

James Roden has joined ENTEK International’s lead acid separator sales team as North America account manager, the company announced on May 31.

Roden, who has more than 10 years of sales experience in the automotive industry, will be based at ENTEK’s headquarters in Oregon.

ENTEK announced last year that it was to expand its manufacturing of AGM battery separators to India and the US, in response to expanding demand for energy storage solutions for inverters, industrial applications and electric vehicles.

In March, the company said it was also investing

$1.5 billion to build a lithium ion battery separator production facility in the US state of Indiana. The Terre Haute plant, on a 340-acre greenfield site, will be the biggest investment to date by the US-based producer of wet-process lithium-ion battery separator materials, in support of the growing EV industry in Indiana and across the country.

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Lead batteries still top recycled product in US, new study shows

Lead batteries continue to be the most recycled consumer product in the US with a 99% recycling rate, according to latest analysis published by Battery Council International on July 12.

The results of the BCI National Recycling Rate Study, commissioned by BCI and prepared by Vault Consulting, show that lead batteries have maintained the outstanding recycling record they have held for a number of years.

And BCI said the industry’s strong circular economy keeps 160 million batteries from landfills annually with a “near-zero waste model of sustainability”.

By comparison, only 50% of aluminium cans in the US are recycled, along with under 40% of consumer

electronics and around less than 3% of lithium ion batteries, BCI said.

Roger Miksad, president and executive director of the trade association representing the global battery manufacturing and recycling industry, said the achievement underscored its members’ unwavering commitment to environmental sustainability and highlighted the industry’s enduring foothold

Battery equipment firm CMWTEC plans new factory

Battery finishing line equipment major CMWTEC Technologie will be expanding its manufacturing capacity at a new greenfield site in Germany as the company invests to meet an increasing order book, Batteries International has learned.

CMWTEC vice-president of sales, Michael Wipperfürth, confirmed the expansion plan during the firm’s latest customer open house event at its factory in Grossmannswiese in Germany on July 12.

Wipperfürth said the firm will be moving from its current factory site of up to 1,000m2 to a nearby greenfield site of 6,000m2 where construction is set to start soon. He hopes the move

will be made next year.

The new site is adjacent to the Limburg-Süd railway station, offering easy access for the firm’s customers to the country’s high-speed rail network and key destinations including Frankfurt International Airport.

New and existing customers were among those at the firm’s open days on July 12 and 13 to see and secure orders for CMWTEC’s extensive new range of machines.

Latest products include an end-of-line test machine for lead acid batteries and AGM/EFB finishing lines with proprietary data management software to record key data such as battery codes, test results, filling quantity and height control measurements.

in advancing responsible recycling practices.

Miksad said lead batteries continued to be key to the transition to clean energy storage in the US, with the recycling of raw materials instead of relying on newly mined minerals significantly reducing the manufacturing footprint for batteries.

“Lead batteries are critical to our low carbon future by being a critical component in many sustainable applications,” Miksad said.

“Our industry is minimizing the environmental impact of battery disposal with a highly successful circular

‘manufacture-use-reuse’ model. It has become the blueprint for newer battery chemistries, as well as other industries.”

The new study updates aggregated data for the five-year reporting period of 2017-2021. The lead battery recycling rate for that period was derived by dividing the total pounds of lead batteries recycled by the total pounds of lead available for recycling in the US.

To account for significant market disruptions during the pandemic, the study averaged BCI recycling rate studies spanning 2011-2021 to derive the sustained recycling rate of 99%.

Overall, the study confirms the exceptional achievements of the lead battery industry in perfecting recycling processes and a circular economy for lead batteries.

Details of the study and other recycling facts and figures are available on BCI’s website.

Gravita India said on July 10 that its Mundra Port lead battery recycling plant in Gujurat was back in operation after work at the site was suspended in June when a cyclone hit the region.

The company said the estimated cost of damage caused as a result of cyclone Biparjoy was about Rs2.50 crore ($300,000) although losses would be covered by insurance.

Gravita announced in April that it had increased lead recycling capacity at Mundra by 40,500 tonnes per annum, which took the

overall recycling capacity at the flagship facility to 60,000 tpa.

Around 19,500 tpa of the new capacity came from switching some recycling from the firm’s facility at Gandhidham, about 60km northeast.

The company said it had also started commercial production of red lead and plastic granules at Mundra, with a capacity of 4,800 tpa and 7,500 tpa respectively.

Gravita announced the start of the first phase of battery recycling operations at Mundra in December 2021.

Gravita recycling plant back in operation after India cyclone

The ONE Minute Giveback returns returns for 20ABC in Cambodia

The ONE Minute Giveback, a charity initiative that started at the 18ABC in Bali will be returning to this year’s Asian Battery Conference in September in Cambodia.

At 18ABC some $40,000 was raised for three local charities and the organizers hope that a similar sum will be available to support the Angkor Hospital for Children, an independent nonprofit paediatric healthcare hospital in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

The fund-raising branded as the ‘ONE Minute Giveback’ is being managed by Mark Richardson, one of the event organizers of ABC and Scott Fink, president of Sorfin Yoshimura.

“All proceeds from our ONE Minute Giveback will be used to help ensure families living in poverty have access to healthcare for their children via the free medical services the hospital provides,” says Fink.

“We’d like to see as many delegates involved as possible and we have five ways you can giveback.”

• The first is acting as a partner that will help as well as donate in the running of the appeal.

• Alternatively one can donate one minute of time onsite during 20ABC and drop by the giveback area in the foyer where goods and items that the hospital has identified as critically needed will be

sorted and packed.

• Give just one dollar! Delegate’s partners will be out taking onsite donations with the help of the event team. Any cash donation from the value of $1 is gratefully received.

• Donate online. “We will be accepting donated items onsite,” says Fink. “And we will share a wish list of items the hospital have requested. Should you wish to donate larger amounts of items please contact us to discuss.”

One industry veteran told Batteries International, “Conference Works [the organizers] and Sorfin achieved a first for the lead battery business in Bali and

added another dimension to the travel aspect of conferences across this region.

“More importantly it also offers a possibility for elsewhere too. I wish ELBC or BCI would do something like this as well.”

The mission of the hospital is to improve healthcare of Cambodia’s children by creating a sustainable, replicable model of a healthcare institution in cooperation with the Cambodian government.

20ABC will be held at the Sokha Siem Reap Resort & Convention Center, Cambodia between September 5-8. It will be preceded by the Recycle 100 conference looking at battery recycling.

Amara

Raja wins $130m solar plant contract for Bangladesh

Amara Raja Batteries said on June 27 a subsidiary had won a contract to build a $130 million solar plant in Bangladesh, funded by the India Exim Bank.

The 100MW solar facility will span more than 326

acres near Dhaka and is set for completion in the next 18 months.

Amara Raja Infra Pvt Ltd (ARIPL) the battery group’s engineering, procurement and construction arm, will provide the engineering,

design, supply, installation, and be responsible for commissioning of the plant for the country’s Rural Power Company. ARIPL will work with Indian solar manufacturer Premier Solar Powertech.

EU leaders formally agree new Batteries Regulation

EU leaders formally voted in favour of the bloc’s new Batteries Regulation on July 10, paving the way for the package of new measures governing the entire lifecycle of batteries to enter into force 20 days later.

The European Council, which includes the heads of state or government of all EU member states, said the regulation will apply to all batteries including all waste portable batteries, EV batter-

ies, industrial batteries, SLI batteries and batteries for light means of transport such as e-bikes.

Adoption of the new regulation followed the approval of EU lawmakers on June 14.

However, battery industry leaders have warned more still needs to be done to ensure consistency and support for all battery chemistries.

EUROBAT has called for battery manufacturers to be involved in the

development of necessary related legislation to support climate change and clean energy goals.

And the International Lead Association regulatory affairs director, Steve Binks, has urged legislators to ensure the plethora of upcoming secondary legislation linked to the new regulation supports “strong and globally competitive battery value chains for all chemistries”.

Vikramadithya Gourineni, ARIPL director, said the project would help to establish the group as a serious player in the domestic and international renewables market.

ARIPL has a solar portfolio of 1GW in the pipeline, including the Bangladesh project.

At the time of going to press, the lead and lithium batteries group had yet to respond to Batteries International about whether it would be supplying any associated BESS systems for the Bangladesh project.

In May, Amara Raja broke ground for its 16GWh lithium battery cells factory and research complex in the southern Indian state of Telangana.

The company announced last December that Telangana would become the company’s giga corridor, featuring advanced laboratories and testing infrastructure for material research, prototyping, product life cycle analysis and proof of concept demonstration.

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WaveTech’s CCT takes lead battery technology into Indonesian telecoms

WaveTech’s German subsidiary is to test the group’s Crystal Control Technology (CCT) on a combination of lead batteries and solar power providing backup power for telecoms systems in Indonesia.

WaveTech said it will monitor progress by treating lead batteries with CCT — its proprietary tech which it says enhances the performance and lifetime of lead batteries used in ESS.

WaveTech said on July 3 it was partnering with Mitratel Indonesia to optimize an unspecified number of Mitratel’s off-grid telecoms backup energy storage systems.

The project aims to enhance battery performance, extend longevity, reduce costs, and minimize the carbon footprint associated with lead battery usage in telecom backup power.

The collaboration marks WaveTech’s expansion into

Indonesia, a country the company says has over 200,000 telecoms sites.

WaveTech plans to scale up and deploy the technology, under a commercial agreement, across a larger number of sites with the goal of covering the majority of Mitratel’s network.

The field trials will involve critical live sites where hybrid lead battery and solar energy systems are in operation.

The project follows WaveTech’s successful completion, announced in February, of the first commercial installation of CCT in Malaysia with Maxis Telecommunications.

In March, WaveTech said it had signed a deal with rolled aluminium producer Niche Fusina Rolled Products to test CCT on electric forklift trucks.

CCT is based on applying a specifically modulated periodic signal during charge,

and monitoring the state of charge and state of health of the battery. The innovation is mostly used in telecoms, where lead batteries globally represent the majority of battery demand.

WaveTech’s R&D department is optimizing the technology for doubling the lifetime and tripling the energy throughput of the batteries for this and other stationary energy storage applications.

CCT helps WaveTech charge the batteries faster and more efficiently. The power pulses sent to the battery enhance the mobility of ions in the electrolyte and optimize crystallization in the positive and negative plates of the battery. The surface of the plates remains active, sulfation is slowed down, and the highly porous microstructure of the lead and lead dioxide crystals formed in the active materials is kept sustainable.

Clean energy switch needs ‘$4tn and historic mining expansion by 2030’

Minerals and metals required for the global clean energy transition, including electric transportation, may need investments of up to $4 trillion by 2030 — but temporary supply chain shortages could still hamper progress, according to a new study.

Analysis published on July 6 by McKinsey & Company says investments in mining, refining, and smelting will need to increase to around $3 trillion to $4 trillion by 2030 (about $300 billion to $400 billion per year), the report says.

Meanwhile, an additional 300,000 to 600,000 specialized mining professionals will be needed worldwide

and an additional 200GW to 500GW will need to come online by 2030 to power these assets, equivalent to 5% to 10% of estimated solar and wind power capacity by 2030.

There are likely to be modest shortages of around 10%-20% of nickel and up to 70% of dysprosium, the highly magnetic rare-earth metal used in most electric motors. These shortages will hinder the speed of decarbonization.

The report forecasts continued high concentration of mineral and metals supplies in a handful of countries including China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Indonesia.

Combined with a regulatory landscape that is increasingly focused on regionalization — as seen through the US Inflation Reduction Act and the EU Green Deal Industrial Plan — these concentrated supplies could affect regional access to materials, even when the global market is balanced.

According to the report, it will be crucial to scale up materials supply projects already announced, but this will require mining “to accelerate beyond historical growth rates for many materials”.

Smoother permitting processes, timely infrastructure deployment, equipment availability and adequate

Lead-air performance boost for Port Pirie operating licence

Nyrstar Australia’s Port Pirie multi-metals processing plant has been granted an extended five-year operating licence, the company announced on June 30. This was in part due to its upgrades in leadin-air environmental performance.

Nyrstar co-CEO Dale Webb said the licence from the Environmental Protection Agency — which has only issued yearly licences for the past three years — was the result of intensive efforts to improve the site’s performance.

“We make critical metals that the world needs for the green transition and a lower carbon future such as zinc, lead, copper and silver,” Webb said.

“Over recent years we have had a strong focus on improving our environmental performance in all areas, and especially reducing lead-in-air concentrations.”

Over the past four years, average leadin-air concentration levels measured across Nyrstar’s monitoring network have reduced by 40%, the company said.

Meanwhile, Nyrstar is working on a new A$23 million ($15.4 million) product recycling facility, co-funded with the South Australian state government, that will store and mix intermediate production materials.

ABC, Quench partnership signals ‘important development’ for EV charging stations in US

Advanced Battery Concepts is set to deploy its bipolar lead battery storage tech for the developing US market to power electric vehicles in collaboration with Quench EV Chargers.

“This is an important moment in the future evolution of the US charging market,” says one lead battery commentator. “The US needs to urgently adopt a charging regime given the amount of EVs that some are predicting will be driven in just seven years’ time. The country is already well behind proposed charging station targets outside of states such as California.

“The arguments over the viability of using lead bat-

teries — in terms of price and also recyclability are clear — and the notion of using an advanced bipolar one with its better performance over conventional ones makes this project a potential winner for lead.”

The ABC/Quench partnership builds on the economic advantages of using lead batteries in charging stations were first shown in a 2019 study in the US state of Missouri. Part of the difference between then and now will be the use of ABC’s bipolar batteries which give a superior performance against other lead types.

ABC and Quench announced on June 15 they

were partnering to help give “unwavering confidence” to EV drivers embarking on journeys.

ABC’s energy storage systems can be sited in remote locations to help tackle issues of peak draw from charging stations and to reduce demand and associated power costs for each charging location.

The partners said the US government predicts a need for 2.5 million EV charging sites by 2030.

However, they said there are doubts that the US electrical power grid can support what would represent a 28% annual growth rate between now and 2030.

ABC president Michael

Everett said: “That’s a big concern.”

He said the company’s EverGreenSeal battery tech levels demand peaks and reduces costs to consumers by sourcing in-coming electricity during off-peak hours.

The BESS also minimizes charging station time-ofuse because direct DC-toDC charging is faster and more efficient than ACto-DC charging — which Everett said is the current charging station norm.

And with a constant supply of energy to the charger, “faster charging means lower per-visit time, cost and allows more EVs to refill per hour”.

Windfall benefits for Tesla as IRA kicks in

The US Inflation Reduction Act has provoked a flurry of approval and disapproval — one commentator said it was both the worst and the best piece of US legislation on batteries — but the full financial impact on US car makers is only still becoming clear.

Bob Galyen, the former CTO of CATL and also acknowledged as one of a small coterie of international lithium battery experts said on June 29 that the IRA was going to provide huge benefits for US auto-manufacturers and battery makers.

Speaking to Batteries International after addressing an audience at the Battery Cells & System Expo in Birmingham, UK, Galyen painted a bright picture for the industry.

“If you look at research from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence you’ll see that Tesla and its battery partner could receive $41 billion in government tax credits by

the end of 2032 — that’s far more than its key Detroit rivals,” he said.

There two credits available (but you could only apply for one of the two) — the Advanced Energy Project Credit and the Advanced Manufacturing Product Credit. The AMPC is where the market interest is.

The rewards from the production credits that are part of the IRA are based on volumes of business so the more batteries and EVs a company makes in the US (or in countries included in the Treasury regulations), the more money it gets via tax credits. Tesla, which had started battery production in 2013 at its first gigafactory has put Tesla and Panasonic far ahead of their competition.

“It’s first mover advantage,” says one analyst. “So those ahead of the game will stay ahead of it until 2030 when the credits taper off. Another reckoned that Tesla

would use the investment credits to cut the price of its cars. Already Tesla sells more of its EVs than the rest of the competitors in the sector combined.

Galyen’s talk also provided a fascinating insight as to the areas in lithium battery technologies which he regarded as being both cutting edge and soon to be mainstream. He was particularly enthusiastic about Titan AES which uses ultrasound technology for quality inspection and homogenous product manufacturing.

The next step forward in lithium battery recycling

will come from Chromatopgraphic separation which Galyen says is a leap ahead from solvent extraction.

Goldman Sachs says the credits baked into the IRA could total $1.2 trillion, which is three times more than the government estimated at the time the IRA was passed. That could lead to political pushback if reactionaries regain control of the US government in the future. “It’s a real risk. People are not giving it 100% likelihood to survive,” said Mark Wakefield, head of the automotive practice at AlixPartners.

“If you look at research from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence you’ll see that Tesla and its battery partner could receive $41 billion in government tax credits by the end of 2032 — that’s far more than its key Detroit rivals”

Bob Galyen, the former CTO of CATL

Breathing space for lead in REACH talks

European Commission officials are not expected to take immediate action to push through proposals for lead metal to be listed on an expanded chemicals authorization register in the near future — Batteries International has learned.

Battery industry leaders have been in talks with European Commission officials, after the European Chemicals Agency said in April it had submitted proposals for lead and seven other substances to be added to its REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) list — indicating that the substance would eventually be substituted and could only be used in the meantime with specific permission from the Commission.

Informed sources close to the talks told Batteries International on the sidelines of the ILA’s Pb 2023 conference in Athens on June 22 that, privately, Commission chiefs indicate there is “no appetite” to add lead metal to the list — for the time being — not least because it would trigger a huge administrative burden as thousands of applications would flood in and risk clogging up the regulatory process.

Preparing for REACH listing would also ramp up pressure on battery manufacturers and associated industries at a time when the sector is being urged to invest to support the EU’s energy transition, including increasing the use of wind, solar and battery storage.

Meanwhile, the political composition of the European Commission is set to change next year following European Parliament elections.

An ILA spokesperson said discussions had been held with the REACH unit of the Commission’s Directorate for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship & SMEs (DG GROW), but declined to give details.

“The unit was keen to hear arguments and the basis of industry’s concerns and are aware of what is at stake,” the spokesperson said.

“From the discussions, we do not anticipate DG GROW progressing lead metal towards REACH authorization listing — at this time.”

However, the spokesperson stressed that initial talks have been held with only one unit of the Commission — so the feedback does not necessarily represent the views of other units involved with REACH.

Global refined lead metal demand exceeds supply in first quarter

World refined lead metal demand exceeded supply by 46kt in the first four months of 2023, according to latest data published on June 21 by the International Lead and Zinc Study Group (ILZSG).

The Lisbon-based group said provisional data it had received indicated stock levels fell by 8kt over the same period.

However, global lead mine production increased

BCI revamps Source BCI

Battery Council International announced on June 28 it had launched an updated and improved website for Source BCI, its data base for vehicle battery fitment. It contains figures for more than 160,000 vehicles spanning more than 85 years.

“The improved Source BCI website is easier and faster to use, with a new mobile-ready interface, and provides more detailed information for the professional battery service technician and consumers alike,” said a BCI statement.

“As the digital counterpart to the traditional Battery Replacement Data Book, Source BCI revolutionizes the way industry professionals access essential battery information,” said Roger Miksad, BCI president and executive director.

“With Source BCI, industry professionals can retrieve the information they need at their fingertips, eliminating the hassle of flipping through pages. It’s a quick and powerful tool for those across the battery industry.”

by 2.3%, which the group said was primarily a consequence of increases in Kazakhstan, South Africa and Turkey, which were partially balanced by a reduction in the US.

Global lead metal production rose 2.2%, mainly as a result of higher output in China, India and South Korea. But output in Bulgaria and Italy fell sharply.

The usage of refined lead metal increased by a mod -

est 0.3% over the period as rises in China, India, Mexico and the UK were largely offset by decreases in the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy and Turkey.

Meanwhile, Chinese imports of lead contained in lead concentrates rose by 44% to 217kt. Net exports of refined lead metal totalled 50kt, an increase of nearly 18% compared to the same period of 2022.

BCI says it provides: enhanced functionality with an integrated payment processor on the website allows for instant access upon purchase, eliminating wait times and the need for access codes. It has added a battery location field within the vehicle, providing users with comprehensive information for an expedited battery replacement process.

An annual subscription costs $14.99 and registering for Source BCI can be made at www. sourcebci.com

Leoch to cooperate on solid-state batteries with Chinese university

Lead and lithium battery giant Leoch signed a framework agreement on June 8 to cooperate on solid-state tech R&D with China’s Fuzhou University.

Singapore-headquartered Leoch said the move is in line with development of its new energy batteries business — and can nurture training and scientific research on both sides.

Leoch owner and chairman Dong Li (pictured) said process control, scientific research technol-

ogy and collaboration are key to advances in battery technologies.

He said he looked forward to Leoch working with the university’s materials science and engineering college.

In March, Leoch announced plans to build a manufacturing plant in Mexico to ramp up its market presence in the Americas.

Dong Li said then that the location had been chosen because of its unique geographical location and

the USMCA free trade

Banner posts battery sales record despite ‘burdensome EU red tape’

Lead battery manufacturer Banner reported record full-year sales of €307 million ($333 million) on June 6 — but warned increasing European red tape and rising energy prices were major burdens.

The Austria-based firm said auto batteries were the key driver of its sales for the year ended March 31, which it said were up by more than 7% over the previous year.

Banner said it sold more than four million starter batteries over the period.

Meanwhile, a new licensing partnership with Leoch International for the Banner brand in China and an extension of the company’s licensing deal with Duracell should boost future sales in Asia and Europe.

Banner said the past financial year was characterized by far-reaching, global changes throughout the entire automotive industry, rising energy, raw material and labour costs and increasingly problematic supply chain issues.

Group commercial CEO

Andreas Bawart said the rise in sales was despite “massive cost increases in every area from raw materials to labour and naturally the meteoric upturn in energy prices.

“A short-term improvement is not in sight and un-

fortunately the EU and Austria are contributing to these difficulties.

“A vast number of regulations have been introduced, the implementation of which has led to a huge increase in the administrative burden upon small and medium-

sized enterprises like ours.” Bawart said it was inexplicable that political leaders were presiding over a situation where European battery makers “are suffering enormous competitive disadvantages” while trying to challenge Asian competitors.

Brill Power unveils ‘chemistry-agnostic’ battery booster for performance, safety

Brill Power unveiled chemistry agnostic tech on June 14 that it claimed could significantly improve battery performance and safety.

Brill, a spin-out from Oxford University, said its power battery intelligence platform boosts battery performance explicitly for larger battery systems in industrial, commercial and utility-scale applications.

The company’s BrillCore hardware and proprietary BrillOS operating system

are at the heart of the technology — providing “intelligent active loading of battery cells or modules” to overcome inherent performance limitation of the weakest cell in the pack that limits existing BMS solutions.

Active loading allows all of the potential from battery cells to be utilized, extending battery lifetime by up to 60%, Brill claims.

According to Brill, BrillOS is chemistry-agnostic and can be updated

wirelessly to be compatible with future battery technology.

Brill CEO Christoph Birkl said the system addressed “all of the pain points” that can be encountered by battery pack and systems developers. “Industrial and gridscale battery systems are necessarily large and expensive investments, so any frailty in the technology can have profound implications for the success and viability of the solution.”

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Fire-damaged EV cargo ship towed to Dutch port with batteries blamed for blaze on board

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Stricken car carrier the Fremantle Highway was being towed into a Dutch port, as Batteries International went to press, after a fatal onboard blaze, with initial reports suggesting an EV battery was to blame.

According to Lloyds List, nearly 500 EVs were among the 3,784 cars on board the vessel when fire broke out on July 25, while en route from Germany to Singapore via Egypt.

Dutch broadcaster RTL has released a recording of an initial emergency responder reporting that the fire “started in the battery of an electric car”.

But the Netherlands Coastguard has distanced itself from the recording, saying it is too early to say what triggered the blaze that led to the death of one of the 23 crew members and injured many others.

Rijkswaterstaat, part of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, said yesterday there were no indications that the fire was continuing.

A towing operation began this morning to take the Fremantle Highway into the port of Eemshaven, with experts from a number of agencies on board the vessel.

Rijkswaterstaat said the cargo could be safely unloaded at the port allowing investigators to establish the cause of the blaze.

Only two of the rescued crew members remained in hospital as of July 30, according to vessel charter company Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha.

The was built in 2013 and has the capacity to carry 6,000 vehicles.

An industry observer told Batteries International: “As terrible as the incident has been, one can only imagine how much worse thing might have been if the ship had been filled to capacity.”

In a separate report published on July 27, Allianz Commercial said fires on vessels like the Fremantle Highway remain one of the biggest safety issues for the shipping industry.

The report said lithium ion fire risks will likely ease over time as manufacturers, carriers, and regulators address the current challenges.

“In the meantime, attention must be focused on preemptive measures to help mitigate the peril.”

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Gopher Resource joins materials recovery tech consortium in US

Gopher Resource has joined a US government-backed consortium to find new metals processing methods that reduce waste and increase recovery of usable materials.

The lead battery recycler, which announced the move on May 22, said the consortium has already received more than $15 million in congressional funding.

More than $5 million has been secured for the seven projects Gopher will be facilitating — focused on greenhouse gas reduction, critical metals recovery, and waste valorization/minimization.

The first project, using advanced heat transfer technology from the solar energy industry to recover waste heat during the recy-

cling process, is already underway.

Gopher wants to commercialize the technology, which it says represented an industry first for the novel technique.

For the second project, Gopher is working with the University of Minnesota Natural Resource Research Institute in Duluth, and a group of local partners to study the use of charcoal from biomass as an alternative to fossil fuels.

That project’s goal is to create a sustainable supply chain that would reduce the net CO2 impact of Gopher’s scope 1 direct GHG emissions (such as those made while running boilers and vehicles) by up to 30% and eventually help other recy-

clers to reduce their GHG impact.

CTO Joseph Grogan worked with the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts during the appropriations process to outline the benefits of the initiative to Congress.

“The issues of supply chain security and circularity had unanimous support from everyone we talked to when setting up this consortium,” Grogan said.

“When our work is complete, we expect that these technologies will be available to the commercial market and will play an important role in developing a low-carbon and diverse economy.”

Future projects will focus on advancing the funda-

mentals of critical metals recovery and waste valorization/minimization, including finding new product uses for slag and recovering acid from batteries.

The consortium initiative, which includes five industry members and seven US and international universities, follows a 2021 executive order by president Joe Biden for the Department of Defense to assess and combat supply chain risks for critical minerals and materials. It falls under the Materials Recovery Technologies for Defense Supply Resiliency, run through Army Research Labs.

In April, Gopher won BCI’s Innovation Award for its development of a Slag Cleaning and Recovery of Useful Metals (SCRUM) Process, which the company claims can reduce its solid waste footprint by 99%.

Banner to expand in China with Leoch licensing deal

European lead battery producer the Banner Group revealed on May 17 it is set to expand in China under a licensing deal with Leoch.

Under the terms of the partnership, batteries giant Leoch will manufacture certain premium batteries in China under the Banner brand for the domestic market.

Until now, Austria-headquartered Banner has had a presence in the Chinese market solely through individual customers.

Banner Group commercial CEO Andreas Bawart said the move was in line with the firm’s plans to acquire new markets in Asia and the Americas, as well as cooperating with partners outside Europe.

“We have now found the ideal partner for this objective in China and therefore the time is ripe for market growth.”

Leoch owner and chairman Dong Li said the Banner brand already had an excellent reputation in

Asia and the partners had a shared commitment to high standards quality and innovation.

“These shared values also open up new opportunities for us to expand our teamwork in other product and application areas and we look forward with great

anticipation to a successful cooperation.”

Banner, which celebrated 85 years in the battery business in 2022, is Austria’s only car battery producer and counts itself as being among the industry’s five largest manufacturers in Europe.

Leoch, with annual sales revenues of more than $1.75 billion, sells its products to over 100 countries.

In March, Leoch confirmed plans to build a manufacturing plant in Mexico to ramp up its market presence in the Americas.

Production figures of the newly restarted German lead plant Stolberg are to be kept under wraps, Batteries International has learned.

Stolberg’s acquisition by the Trafigura Group was completed in February and the firm said on April 6 that the plant had been restarted after being out of action since 2021.

The plant is now being run by Trafigura’s Nyrstar business — but a spokesperson told Batteries International on 2 June no production

figures for any Trafigura asset would be released.

The spokesperson declined to discuss potential new investment at the site — despite Nyrstar saying last year there would be “continuous assessment” of future investment once the acquisition had been finalized.

Stolberg previously had the capacity to produce 155,000 tonnes of lead and more than 100 different specifications of market-leading lead alloys and produce 130,000 tonnes of sulphuric acid.

Batteries International reported last November that four European lead smelters had been placed under review for potential temporary closure as the region grappled with the combined economic and energy crisis fuelled by the Russia-Ukraine war.

In May, it was revealed that lead and zinc processing at Glencore’s Portovesme subsidiary in Italy could be replaced with a lithium ion battery recycling operation in partnership with Li-Cycle.

Trafigura silent on Stolberg output as smelter restarts

Amara Raja breaks ground for new giga corridor complex

Amara Raja Batteries broke ground on May 6 for its 16GWh lithium battery cells factory and research complex in the southern Indian state of Telangana.

The lead and lithium battery manufacturer company announced last December that Telangana would become the company’s giga corridor, featuring advanced laboratories and testing infrastructure for material research,

prototyping, product life cycle analysis and proof of concept demonstration.

Now the Telangana government has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Amara Raja Advanced Cell Technologies (ARACT), a wholly owned Amara Raja subsidiary, which has been working on Li ion cell chemistries specifically suited for Indian subcontinent conditions, the battery giant said.

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ARACT already supplies lithium battery packs and chargers to some two and three-wheel vehicle OEMs.

The groundbreaking ceremony officially marked the beginning of the giga corridor, the company said.

Initial operating facilities will include an advanced energy research and innovation center, dubbed the Amara Raja E +Ve Energy Labs.

This facility will be equipped with advanced

laboratories and testing infrastructure for material research, prototyping, product life cycle analysis, and proof of concept demonstration.

Amara Raja’s chairman and MD Jayadev Galla said the launch of the project marked “a significant milestone in our journey and our strategic step is not just limited to setting up the giga corridor but to providing non-migratory jobs to the local youth”.

Strong start for EnerSys in sustainability checks

Lead and lithium battery producer EnerSys said on May 16 the company was making substantial progress in its drive to reduce operational carbon emissions.

The company pledged in an inaugural sustainability report published in April 2022 to reduce the firm’s environmental footprint.

Now EnerSys has released its 2022 sustainability update, with highlights including a “decoupling of production from energy consumption” — which the

company says means it is consuming fewer resources while producing more energy systems and batteries.

In its latest report, EnerSys says it has reduced global greenhouse gas emissions by more than 4% over 2021 levels.

Scope 1 emissions (direct GHG emissions such as those made while running boilers and vehicles) are down nearly 8% over 2021.

Scope 2 emissions (indirect emissions such as from electricity bought) de-

Yuasa, Honda step up joint venture battery plans

GS Yuasa International and Honda Motor signed a 5050 joint venture agreement on May 11 to form a lithium ion battery R&D company.

The move came just weeks after Japan’s government backed plans by the partners to invest ¥444 billion ($3.3 billion) in a lithium battery manufacturing plant for EVs and residential energy storage systems.

Honda GS Yuasa EV Battery R&D — the new joint venture company — will also develop highly-competitive battery production

methods, the firms said.

The new firm, to be based in Kyoto, is scheduled to start operating before the end of this year, subject to receiving regulatory approvals.

Honda’s Koichi Yamamoto has been named as president of the new business. Masaaki Hosokawa from GS Yuasa International becomes vice president.

Yuasa and Honda said in January that they wanted to collaborate on developing a high-capacity, high-output lithium-ion battery.

Sustainability certification boost for Birla Carbon’s Italy facility

Carbon additives company

Birla Carbon has received sustainability certification ISCC PLUS for its manufacturing plant in Italy, the company said on May 15.

The International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) is a voluntary scheme that helps identify companies providing sustainable and circular raw materials.

The scheme covers a range of products including recycled carbon materials.

Birla Carbon Italy is now certified to produce cir-

cular materials such as its Continua 8000 sustainable carbonaceous material, the company said.

John Loudermilk, CEO of Birla Carbon, said: “It is our intention to adopt this important certification at all our manufacturing locations in the near future.”

Birla Carbon announced in July 2022 that it had raised a $50 million green loan to refinance part of the capital expenditure incurred for tackling emissions at its North Bend plant in the US.

creased by nearly 4% over 2021.

EnerSys said its use of water in the manufacturing process use decreased by 1.4% compared to usage in 2021.

In 2022, the company said it saved a year’s worth of drinking water required for a city of over 12,000 people.

Meanwhile, female representation in leadership

Amara Raja Batteries has posted a pre-tax profit of Rs948 crore ($115 million) for the year ended March 2023 up from Rs690 crore the previous year.

The lead batteries powerhouse said on May 24 net revenue for the year was Rs10,400 crore (previously Rs8,700 crore).

The results reflected increase market share for both OEM and aftermarket segments in automotive batteries, the company said.

There was also strong growth in providing products for the telecoms and datacenters segment.

Chairman and MD Jay-

increased from 9% to 13% between 2021 and 2022, the company said.

Senior director of global sustainability Samuel Shiroff said: “While improving efficiency has always been central to what we do, a little over 30 months into our formal ESG efforts we are starting to see the results of our strategy.”

adev Galla said the results were a testament to customers’ trust in its products.

“As we embark on the next phase of our energy and mobility strategy, our continued commitment to R&D that delivers superior products in lead-acid as well as lithium will be crucial.”

Meanwhile, new energy business executive director Vikramadithya Gourineni said the group was making rapid progress on its giga corridor project toward its goal of domestic production of lithium ion battery cells.

Clarios completes refinancings to extend debt maturity profile

Clarios said on May 4 it had closed a bond offering of $750 million. In addition to the senior secured notes due in 2028, the world’s largest manufacturer of automotive batteries also announced the closing of a new tranche of term loans in an aggregate principal amount of $2.75 billion.

The new loan, at the secured overnight financing rate plus 3.75%, will mature in May 2030.

Clarios, which is owned by Brookfield Business Partners together with institutional partners of Brookfield Asset Management, said the gross proceeds from the offering of the notes,

and the borrowings under the new term loan, were to repay around $3.5 billion of borrowings under the company’s existing term loan maturing in April 2026.

Clarios CEO Mark Wallace welcomed what he said was “strong continued support received from the market, which enabled us to almost triple the size of our debt offering.

“Upon closing, we will have successfully refinanced $3,500 million of our borrowings while extending the maturity of our capital structure through 2030 with virtually no increase to our overall borrowing costs.”

Amara Raja posts pre-tax profit rise

$22m overtime pay verdict for East Penn

A US federal court jury has awarded overtime pay of more than $22 million for over 7,500 East Penn Manufacturing workers, following a lawsuit over the time allowed for putting on and taking off uniforms.

The Department of Labor (DOL), which brought the case, said on May 10 the award marked the largest recorded verdict it had obtained under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

DOL said it also intends to ask the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to award an equal amount in liquidated damages for the affected workers.

The jury found that East Penn had typically paid workers only for their

eight-hour scheduled shift and did not pay for extra time needed to put on and remove protective equipment and to shower.

US federal law requires employers to include all hours employees worked and to pay an overtime premium for hours over 40 in a workweek, DOL said.

However, East Penn noted in a statement issued on May 10 that the DOL had originally claimed the firm owed the employees — who worked for East Penn in Lyon Station, Pennsylvania from November 2015 to September of 2021 — over $214 million in back wages.

The jury also found that East Penn did not act in a knowing or reckless disre-

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gard of the law, the company said.

East Penn said it had made every effort to comply with the laws as it understood them. As a company, it stands behind the time paid to employees to put on and take off uniforms and to shower.

The company believes it provided proper compensation for these activities and was fair in determining the reasonable time required to perform them.

The verdict ends a trial in response to a complaint

brought by the DOL in March 2018.

East Penn said the amount of the ultimate judgement is subject to further argument to the trial judge and adjustment. In addition, either the company or DOL may file an appeal.

“East Penn greatly appreciates its family of employees who diligently work to support and sustain the company and provide the essential products that help power people’s lives,” the company said.

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US federal law requires employers to include all hours employees worked and to pay an overtime premium for hours over 40 in a workweek, DOL said.

Altilium, Marubeni plan EV battery recycling partnership

Altilium Metals said on July 6 it had signed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding with Marubeni Corporation for a lithium ion battery recycling partnership.

The companies plan to develop an EV battery recycling businesses in the UK and Europe — including creating a UK supply chain of end-of-life lithium batteries.

Altilium Metals claims

to be the only company in the UK recovering lithium, nickel and cobalt in a battery-ready cathode active material from waste EV batteries at its scale facility in Devon.

The firm said it recently completed a feasibility study for the potential development of an EV battery recycling facility in northeast England with the capacity to process scrap from more than 150,000

EVs per year and producing more than 20% of the UK’s expected CAM (cathode active material) demand by 2030.

Altilium CEO Kamran Mahdavi said the Marubeni partnership will also cover work to secure the supply of feedstock including black mass and gigafactory scrap as well as further developing Altilium’s proprietary CAM technology.

ACE Green in licensing deal with Hakurnas Lead Works

ACE Green Recycling announced on June 21 it had signed an equipment supply and licensing deal with Hakurnas Lead Works to set up battery recycling facilities in Israel and Romania.

ACE said it will deploy its proprietary lead battery recycling technology, which it claims operates without fossil fuel-based heating, at the Israeli secondary lead producer.

As part of the deal, ACE will sell its proprietary equipment and chemicals to Hakurnas and provide technical and engineering support for installation and commissioning.

Initial operations using ACE’s equipment should start at the Hakurnas plant in Ashdod by the fourth quarter of this year, which is then planned to be scaled up subject to various approvals.

Once fully deployed, ACE said these facilities are projected to recycle 50,000 tonnes of scrap batteries every year — a capacity that is worth some $60 million in lead metal sales annually, ACE said.

The move will also prevent the emission of 30,000 tonnes of CO2 and stop 2,400 tonnes of solid waste from going into landfill while also recycling more than 3,500 tonnes of plastics, ACE said.

ACE claims its technology replaces the smelting furnace, operates at room temperature, runs on electricity and has zero scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions (direct GHG emissions such as those made while running boilers and vehicles) and reduces solid waste by more than 80%.

Under the terms of the

deal, the companies could also collaborate on deploying ACE’s technology to set up greenfield lithium ion battery recycling sites in Israel and Romania.

Hakurnas has been operating in Israel for more than 60 years and is also a lead supplier to Europe and North America.

Hakurnas owner and CEO Miron Badin said, “It is important to us to link with ACE to become early adopters of such radical technology, as Hakurnas always aims to be at the vanguard of development in our industry.”

June 23, 2023: The US is launching an advanced battery R&D consortium focused on securing supplies of critical battery materials needed for nextgeneration EVs.

The Department of Energy announced the move on June 12 as part of a $192 million funding program including a new battery recycling initiative that will feature a national disposal and collection education program.

Up to $60 million of the overall funding will support creation of the R&D consortium aimed at encouraging EV manufacturers, universities, mineral and material suppliers and others to work together in planning the next phase of an anticipated expansion of EV sales.

The DOE is also continuing its lithium ion battery recycling prize scheme, which was launched in 2019 and has awarded $5.5 million to date for innovative solutions to collecting, sorting, storing and transporting spent and discarded lithium ion batteries.

A total of more than $7 million has now been allocated as part of the overall funding program to support the latest iteration of the prize as well as a new ‘breakthrough contest’.

US energy secretary Jennifer Granholm said the investments will ensure the US “has a secure and sustainable domestic supply chain and strengthens our economy”.

US $192m boost for Li R&D, battery recycling, innovation

Fortum, Terrafame launch battery material experimental partnership

Fortum and Terrafame are partnering up for an experimental battery recycling project, the Finnish companies announced on June 14.

The project aims to use metals that energy company Fortum recovers from lithium ion battery black mass in Terrafame’s battery chemical production. Operations were set to start in June and the project is expected to span several years.

The partners said fully replacing the mining of pri-

mary raw materials, such as nickel and cobalt, with recycled materials was “not possible in the near future”.

However, Tero Holländer, head of the batteries business line at Fortum Battery Recycling, said the partnership aimed to boost sustainability of using Finland’s minerals wealth to develop a domestic batteries industry — and was a step towards “a more self-sufficient European battery manufacturing industry with less need to use import-

ed raw materials”.

Fortum said on April 27 it had started commercial operation of its lithium hydrometallurgical battery material recycling facility in Finland.

The company claimed the plant was the largest in Europe in terms of recycling capacity and can also recover 95% of the valuable and critical metals from battery black mass and reuse them to produce new lithium ion battery chemicals.

RecycLiCo Battery Materials said on June 12 it was launching a 50-50 lithium ion battery recycling joint venture in Taiwan with Zenith Chemical Corporation.

The companies will build their initial 2,000 tonne per year commercial plant at an estimated cost of $25 million.

RecycLiCo said both sides had agreed on phased funding for the project.

Zenith’s 50% contribution will be funded in cash while RecycLiCo will have a 10% stake in the joint venture in return for a licence of its technology, with of its interest paid in cash.

Zenith specializes in the production of nickel-based chemicals, including highpurity nickel sulfate for lithium ion batteries.

The partners said that since signing a memorandum of understanding last February, they have worked with an unnamed battery materials company to validate RecycLiCo’s process and confirm the quality of it high-nickel cathode precursors and lithium chemical products.

Under the joint venture deal, which is subject to various regulatory approvals, RecycLiCo will receive a royalty on net product sales and Zenith will receive four million RecycLiCo shares and six million share purchase warrants.

RecycLiCo chairman Paul Hildebrand said Zenith’s technical expertise in chemical processing would help the partnership progress rapidly to starting operations.

RecycLiCo was formerly American Manganese until the company announced its name change last October.

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Gravita India expands lead battery processing capacity in Chittoor

Gravita India said on May 26 it had expanded lead battery recycling capacity at its Chittoor plant from 26,440 metric tonnes a year to 64,640 MTPA.

The increase takes the group’s overall recycling capacity to more than 278,000 MTPA — putting Gravita on course to hit its overall target of 425,000 MTPA by fiscal 2026.

Gravita invested around Rs21 crore ($2.4 million) in the Chittoor expansion project.

Expanding recycling capacity means Gravita is poised to manage an expected surge in demand for recycling, as manufacturers and importers of new batteries respond to extended

producer responsibility requirements under Indian battery waste management regulations introduced in 2022. The regulations are also designed to stamp out unregulated/informal battery recycling.

Meanwhile, Chittoor has a range of contracts in place to take battery scrap from major telecoms players, OEMs and the auto sector originating from across India.

Chittoor’s proximity to the port of Chennai, about 150km to the east, will help Gravita strengthen its presence in the southern Indian and southeast Asian markets, the company said.

Separately, Gravita said on May 24 its Tanzania subsidiary had started commercial

Hoppecke in Li recycling agreement with Huayou

Hoppecke is to work with China’s Huayou Recycling Technology on lithium ion battery recycling development, the companies announced on May 16.

The Germany-based lead battery company has signed a memorandum of understanding with Huayou, a subsidiary of Huayou Cobalt.

Details of the agreement were not disclosed, but Hoppecke said the move aimed to “create future solutions for a circular economy for lithium ion batteries”.

Hoppecke said it was the first European company with which Huayou had agreed a cooperation deal.

Hoppecke said it aimed to use its expertise to support future lithium battery recycling, which it said was “significantly more complex and complicated” than with lead acid batteries.

In January, Hoppecke announced that its newly

launched batteries production plant in Poland secured ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015 certification for quality and environmental management.

Poznan is home to the manufacture of Hoppecke’s latest pure lead AGM batteries series, where production was launched in spring 2022.

production and recycling of waste rubber. Pyrolysis oil generated during the process would be used as an alternative source of energy to support its lead and aluminium recycling.

In May 2022, Gravita un-

veiled similar plans for a waste rubber operation at its plant in Ghana.

The company has not given details of how it would further refine the pyrolysis oil from the recycling operations.

Study to consider switch from lead to Li processing at Glencore’s Portovesme

Lead and zinc processing at Glencore’s Portovesme subsidiary in Italy could be replaced with a lithium ion battery recycling operation in partnership with Li-Cycle, the companies revealed on May 9.

The announcement came just weeks after Batteries International reported that a review into the future of lead smelting and refining at Portovesme was underway.

Glencore and Canadabased Li-Cycle have signed a letter of intent to jointly study the feasibility of — and later develop — a hub facility at Portovesme to produce materials including nickel, cobalt and lithium from recycled batteries.

The definitive feasibility study will start mid-2023 and should be completed by

mid-2024.

Subject to a final investment decision, the partners say construction of the hub could follow with commissioning in late 2026 to early 2027.

Glencore’s global head of recycling Kunal Sinha said if the repurposing of the site goes ahead, Portovesme would become the group’s first facility to produce battery-grade lithium.

This will enable Glencore to “truly close the loop for our European OEM and gigafactory customers across all aspects of the supply chain,” he said.

The two companies have not said whether existing lead and zinc smelting operations could continue at Portovesme alongside the lithium recycling hub.

Sunlight plant set to double lead recycling

The Sunlight Group is to further invest to ramp up lead battery recycling at its operation in northeastern Greece, CEO Lampros Bisalas told the country’s Delphi Economic Forum on May 2.

Bisalas said the company plans to gradually double lead production at the Komotini plant from the current 50,000 tonnes annually.

Meanwhile, Sunlight

is on course to launch a lithium battery recycling plant within the next three years on the back of a €30 million ($32 million) investment by the company, plus a €3.5 million contribution from the European Union.

“We’re in the process of developing the relevant (lithium recycling) technology,” Bisalas said.

Sunlight is also setting up a prototype lithium

ion battery cells production plant at its headquarters in Xanthi.

Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis praised Sunlight as a global leader in the energy sector when he visited the Xanthi site on April 27.

Mitsotakis said it was exciting to see Greek companies “excelling abroad and dominating markets”.

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Pexapark backs solar-BESS agreement ‘first’ for UK

Software and advisory firm Pexapark said on July 5 it is supporting a milestone hybrid power purchase agreement (PPA) and optimization agreement that will boost the solar-storage market in the UK.

The deal, announced by equity fund DIF Capital Partners, covers a 55MW solar farm with a 40MW/80MWh battery storage system in Leighton Buzzard and is the UK’s first bankable and unsubsidized co-located hybrid PPA, according to Pexapark.

The move will provide

secured revenue across the solar-BESS system over a 10-year term.

In the UK, 45% of all planning applications for solar projects submitted in the past two years have been for hybrid systems that include battery storage, Pexapark said.

And the company said its own analysis indicates that 64% of renewable energy businesses in the wider European market are now seeking to introduce or increase the proportion of energy storage in their portfolios.

However, Pexapark said PPAs for co-located proj-

ects have remained difficult to agree on because of their complex operational usage profiles and contracting structures, which has limited options available for financing solarhybrid schemes.

Brian Knowles, director of storage and flexibility at Pexapark, said the innovative nature of the UK agreement “reflects our commitment to finding new PPA solutions for unsubsidized renewable energy developers and offtakers, with contracted revenue that offers attractive returns and low risk profiles for investors”.

California close to 6GW online BESS milestone

California now has nearly 6GW of battery storage capacity online, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) revealed on July 11.

CAISO president and CEO Elliot Mainzer said total BESS capacity on the grid increased to 5.6GW as of July 1.

“Just three years ago, we had about 500MW on the grid and this rapid growth of energy storage in Cali-

fornia has significantly improved our ability to manage through challenging grid conditions,” Mainzer said.

He said it was essential for the state to continue to invest in innovative technologies such as energy story in the face of more frequent climate extremes including record heatwaves and droughts.

CAISO says 1MW of electricity provides roughly enough power to meet the

demand of 750 homes, while 5,000MW can provide enough electricity to power around 3.8 million homes for up to four hours before the batteries need to be recharged.

The battery systems are increasingly being paired with new or existing solar resources at the same location because such facilities can provide greater operational efficiency and flexibility, the operator says.

SVOLT breaks ground for Thai battery plant

SVOLT said on July 10 it had broken ground for construction of a battery modules and packs factory in Thailand.

The Chinese battery maker said the Chon Buri province facility, expected to be completed by the end of this year, will strengthen its presence in the thriving Thai EV market.

The facility is designed to have an annual production capacity of around 60,000 modules.

One line will be dedicated to the production of modules for hybrid electric vehicles, while the second line is designed to produce modules and packs for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and battery electric vehicles.

Both production lines will use independently developed pouch cells and prismatic cells, with advanced automated welding processes and monitoring equipment

ensuring efficient, highquality production.

Chairman and CEO Hongxin Yang said SVOLT’s advanced lithium battery tech would form the basis of a local battery chain supply network that would contribute to China’s new energy market expansion.

SVOLT’s Thai operations are through its wholly owned subsidiary SVOLT Energy Technology (Thailand).

Canada agrees battery incentives deal for Stellantis, LGES plant

Stellantis and LG Energy Solution (LGES) are resuming construction of their NextStar Energy EV battery plant in Canada under a deal worth up to C$15 billion ($11.4 billion) in tax breaks for the project, Ontario’s provincial government confirmed on July 6.

The battery partners had been pressing provincial and federal government leaders to scale up support for NextStar in line with that available in the US under the Inflation Reduction Act.

Now Ontario is to provide C$5 billion in tax breaks for the project with a further C$10 billion coming from the federal government.

Production at the plant is planned to start in 2024 with an eventual annual production capacity in excess of 45GWh.

A statement issued by Ontario premier Doug Ford and other ministers said the incentives were a direct response to those offered by the US government — but warned they could be reduced or cancelled if the US should drop its support for battery makers.

Ford said the deal also extends to a project by Volkswagen and its subsidiary PowerCo SE to establish the auto giant’s first overseas EV battery cell manufacturing plant in Ontario. Volkswagen could receive up to C$13 billion in performance incentives.

However, incentives are linked to the amount of batteries that Stellantis produces and sells, in line with the conditions in the agreement for the Volkswagen battery cell manufacturing plant.

NextStar Energy is one of eight battery plants that LGES has secured in North America in response to its growing EV market.

European Court of Auditors warns on EU battery ambitions

The EU risks falling behind in its bid to become a global battery powerhouse, according to a report published on June 19 by the European Court of Auditors.

Access to raw materials remains a major roadblock, along with rising costs and fierce global competition. The EU’s efforts to grow its battery production capacity might therefore not be enough to meet the increasing demand, meaning it may fall short of its 2035 zero-emission goal, the auditors warn.

“Nearly one in every five new cars registered in the EU in 2021 had an electrical plug, and the sale of new petrol and diesel cars is to be banned by 2035. This has made batteries a strategic imperative for the EU,” says the report.

“But Europe’s battery industry is lagging behind its global competitors, particularly China, which accounts for 76% of global produc-

tion capacity.”

Annemie Turtelboom, the ECA member who led the audit, said: “The EU must not end up in the same dependent position with batteries as it did with natural gas — its economic sovereignty is at stake.”

Between 2014 and 2020, the battery industry received just €1.7 billion ($1.9 billion) in EU grants and loan guarantees, on top of state aid of up to €6 billion authorized between 2019 and 2021, mainly in Germany, France and Italy, says the report.

The EU’s battery production capacity is developing rapidly, with the potential to grow from 44GWh in 2020 to 1,200GWh by 2030 claims the report. However, this projection is not guaranteed and could be jeopardized by geopolitical and economic factors.

“First,” says Turtelboom, “battery manufacturers may abandon the EU in favour of other regions, not

least the US, which offers them massive incentives. Unlike the EU, the US directly subsidizes the production of minerals and batteries, as well as the purchase of electric vehicles made in the US using American components.

“Second, the EU depends heavily on imports of raw materials, mainly from a few countries with which it lacks trade agreements: 87% of its raw lithium imports come from Australia, 80% of manganese imports from South Africa and Gabon, 68% of raw cobalt imports from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and 40% of raw natural graphite imports from China.

“Although Europe has several mining reserves, it takes at least 12-16 years from their discovery until production, making it impossible to respond quickly to increases in demand.”

“Third, the competitiveness of EU battery production may be jeopardized

Basquevolt opens solid state center

Basquevolt, the solid state lithium battery developer and manufacturer, inaugurated its innovation center in mid-June in an official ceremony presided over by the president of the Basque government, Iñigo Urkullu and the company’s investment partners.

The company claims that its technology will revolutionize the lithium battery market as the greater efficiencies and safety of solid state batteries replaces existing lithium chemistries.

The company CEO, Francisco Carranza, said he expects to start producing its 20Ah cells by the end of the year. A spokesperson said solid state lithium technology

can “reach a high energy density — 1,000Wh/l and 450Wh/kg) — while reducing overall battery pack costs.

“Basquevolt battery cells can be produced through a more efficient,

less complex process, creating a 30% reduction in the capital investment needed per GWh in a gigafactory and 30% less energy used per kWh produced, compared to lithium-ion batteries.”

by rising raw material and energy prices. At the end of 2020, the cost of a battery pack (€200 per kWh) was more than double the amount anticipated. In the last two years alone, nickel has risen in price by over 70% and lithium by 870%.”

The auditors also criticise the lack of quantified, time-bound targets. Some 30 million zero-emission vehicles are expected on European roads by 2030 and, potentially, nearly all new vehicles registered from 2035 onwards will be battery-powered. However, the EU’s current strategy does not assess the capacity of its battery industry to meet this demand.

The auditors warned of two potential worst-case scenarios should the EU battery production capacity fail to grow as projected.

The first is that the EU could be forced to delay its ban on vehicles with combustion engines beyond 2035, thus failing to meet its carbon-neutrality objectives.

The second is that it could be forced to rely heavily on non-EU batteries and electric vehicles, to the detriment of the European automotive industry and workforce, to achieve a zero-emission fleet by 2035.

GS Yuasa announced the start of operations on June 15 of a 240MW/720 MWh BESS to support a wind power facility in Japan.

Yuasa said the lithiumion BESS delivered to the North Hokkaido Wind Energy Transmission Corporation started operations last March, following a

16-month installation period that ended in November 2021.

The system, equipped with about 210,000 modules and 3.3 million cells, will be maintained by Yuasa for 20 years.

Yuasa manufactured the batteries, which use the firm’s proprietary Starelink

battery maintenance service and associated remote monitoring technology to constantly monitor the voltage of all cells.

The BESS will help to suppress output fluctuations caused by weather changes and aid grid stabilization, the company said.

Yuasa BESS goes live for Japan wind power project

EU batteries chief on guard over battery subsidies from China, US

European Commission VP and batteries czar Maroš

Sefcovic has said the bloc is monitoring “massive” Chinese and US battery industry subsidies — but signalled a conciliatory approach to protecting European manufacturers.

Sefcovic said while attending the opening of BASF’s joint center for battery material production and battery recycling in Germany on June 29: “We are looking carefully at China’s massive subsidies to its industry, in particular clean-tech innovation and manufacturing, and ways to protect our own.”

The EU is also in contact

with its “US friends” regarding the Inflation Reduction Act, which he said could lead to unfair competition, close

markets, and fragment critical supply chains.

Such incentives in several countries are affecting the EU’s capacity to succeed in the green and digital transition.

Sefcovic said the EU still needed to work and trade with China but should “focus on de-risking rather than decoupling”.

However, where trade is not fair, he said Europe must respond more robustly.

According to BASF, its new plant in Schwarzheide is Germany’s first production site for high-performance cathode materials and also the first fully automatic

Report reveals €13bn cost of Europe battery materials plan

The EU needs to invest more than €13 billion ($14 billion) by 2040 to guarantee just a quarter of key battery materials from European sources to power its green energy agenda, says analysis released on May 9.

The study by European electrochemical and thermal energy storage research center, CIC energiGUNE, assessed the impact of the Critical Raw Materials Act published by the European

Commission in March.

Study author and CIC sustainability expert, Andrea Casas, says analysis of the European Commission’s own estimates show the bloc will need to invest €7 billion by 2030 and €13.2 billion by 2040 to guarantee European sources of 25% of the region’s demand for lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese and natural graphite.

EU member states could expect to contribute up to

€5 billion in public funding by 2040 towards the overall total, if the bloc wants to follow the lead of the US in supporting its battery sector under the Inflation Reduction Act.

However, the study does not comment on whether the bulk of the investment will come from European Commission coffers or private investors.

large-scale production plant for cathode materials in Europe.

The plant is sold out for the next few years and will supply products tailored to the specific requirements of cell manufacturers and automobile manufacturers in Europe.

Meanwhile, Sefcovic, who has championed the European Battery Alliance that was set up in 2017, said it has attracted more than €180 billion ($196 billion) of investments to date.

“There are now more than 160 industrial projects being developed along the entire value chain, with around 30 announced lithium-ion gigafactories and around 70GWh installed capacity by 2022.

batteries for mobility and energy storage is expected to increase 89-fold by 2050, Casas says.

Meanwhile, the demand for rare earths used to manufacture permanent magnets used in wind turbines or electric vehicles should increase six to seven times by 2050.

Casas says it is indisputable that critical raw materials are essential to EU plans for a network of battery gigafactories to support the clean energy transition.

The COO of Volkswagen’s PowerCo battery cells subsidiary, Sebastian Wolf is among the latest keynote speaker to be announced for this year’s Batteries Event, which will open in Lyon, France, on October 10.

Conference organizer Avicenne Energy has also published the first detailed preliminary program for the event, where more than 150 speakers

are set to address more than 1,000 delegates.

The Batteries Event will be held at the Centre de Congrès until October 13 and cover a range of topical issues impacting the industry ranging from trends and best practices to battery production and recycling.

Program and registration details are online. See also the events section of this magazine.

According to Casas, other strategic raw materials are also likely to require large investments such as copper for electrifying infrastructure, silicon for solar panels or platinum group metals for hydrogen electrolysis.

To date, the EU is almost exclusively dependent on imports for many critical raw materials, Casas says.

“In addition, the suppliers of these imports are often highly concentrated in a small number of third countries, both at the extraction and processing stages.”

All this becomes even more relevant when taking into account global demand for lithium to manufacture

However, she says it is also necessary “to be clear that deploying this plan will require significant investments to ensure the effectiveness of the measures taken”.

The European Commission’s Critical Raw Materials Act defined this year, for the first time, a list of strategic raw materials vital to powering the bloc’s green tech agenda, including domestic battery manufacturing for EVs and energy storage systems.

The Commission has said that by 2030, Europe should not be dependent on any single third country for more than 65% of its supply of any strategic raw material, unprocessed and at any stage of processing.

PowerCo’s COO Wolf joins Batteries Event

Maros Sefcovic.

Photo: EC - Audiovisual Service

Morrow loan deal boost for for giga plans in Norway

Morrow Batteries said on July 5 it had achieved an 86% yield of battery cells production at its customer qualification in South Korea just four months after opening.

CEO Lars Christian Bacher praised the results, saying industry standards put the initial average yield of new production lines at 70%.

Morrow started test production at Chungju-si in

February and has produced more than 600 prismatic cells with NMC battery chemistry.

The Norway-based battery maker said its industrial scale-up is now on track.

Morrow said it will produce a few hundred LFP batteries at B-sample stage during the summer.

The customer qualification plant will have a capacity of 2,000 battery cells per month.

Australia critical minerals blueprint launched

Australia unveiled a new critical minerals strategy on June 20, including a pledge to pump A$500 million ($332 million) of fresh investment into sectors including battery materials supply.

Resources and Northern Australia minister Madeleine King said the country aimed to become a “globally significant producer of raw and processed critical minerals”.

Independent modelling has found increasing exports of critical minerals and energy-transition minerals could create more than 115,000 new jobs and add

A$71.2 billion to GDP by 2040, King said.

But jobs could more than double that figure and GDP increase to A$133.5 billion by 2040 if Australia builds downstream refining and processing capability and secures a greater share of trade and investment.

Australia is the world’s largest producer of lithium — accounting for some 47% of world supply in 2020.

King said it is the third largest producer of cobalt and fourth largest producer of rare earths and produces significant amounts of metals such as aluminium, nickel and copper.

€500m R&D financial support awaits EU battery projects

Battery developers are being urged to make bids for millions of euros in financial support still up for grabs in Europe.

Wouter Ijzermans, executive director at the Battery European Partnership (BEPA), gave details of around €500 million ($547 million) in potential aid still available from the EU’s Horizon Europe R&D program during the International Flow Battery Forum in Prague on June 27 (see our events section).

BEPA works in tandem

On May 12, Morrow said it had agreed a loan deal of NOK567 million ($53 million) to support development of its battery cells projects at Arendal in Norway, where production is to

begin in 2024.

An investment decision to start on the next facility — the Eyde 1 14GWh per annum batteries production plant — will be taken in the first half of 2024.

Fitch upgrades China’s CATL to A- rating

Fitch Ratings, the international credit rating agency, announced on June 26, it had upgraded CATL, the China-based battery producer to a senior unsecured rating to A- from BBB+.

To put this into context this says the likelihood of defaulting on its debt is equivalent to that of Spain or Poland not paying their international obligations. Both countries are also rated A-.

Fitch says it expects the firm to have a compound annual growth rate of 18% over the next three years and its EBITDA (earnings before interest tax deductions and amortization) of around 15%.

Fitch says: “The company’s performance in 2022 and the first quarter this year demonstrates solidification of its dominant market share, technological capability and capacity leadership. These are commensurate with or stronger than peers’ in the respective industries.

“The ratings are con-

strained by the current nature of the volatile, evolving EV battery sector, which sees rapid changes in its competitive environment and technology. Regulatory risks in specific markets could also constrain CATL’s overseas growth, but Fitch believes the risks are manageable.”

Fitch believes CATL will continue to maintain its leading global market position and has a strong order book that supports future growth with adequate leverage headroom.

According to SNE Research, CATL had a 37% share of the global EV battery market in 2022. “We expect CATL to continue overseas penetration through exports and growing localized production amid tighter geopolitical regulation,” Fitch said.

CATL’s EV battery is a leader in international markets with a non-China market share of 22.3% in 2022.

with BATT4EU — a program established under Horizon.

Ijzermans said nearly €1 billion had originally been earmarked in funds under Horizon, of which €503 million had been allocated to date. Of the remainder, €21 million has been set aside specifically for nonlithium sustainable batteries for stationary storage with European supply chains.

Applicants for the nonlithium battery chemistry funding have until April 18, 2024 to apply.

Emeren, Matrix partnering for BESS projects in Italy

Solar developer Emeren said on June 27 it was partnering Matrix Renewables to develop up to 1.5GWh of energy storage projects in Italy.

The companies are working on a development service agreement for the BESS portfolio ahead of an expected new capacity market auction in late 2023 aimed at boosting the deployment of solar in Italy.

Potential battery chemis-

tries to be used in the projects were not disclosed.

The first tranche of developments accepted by Matrix, which is part of private equity firm TPG, includes more than 260MW of standalone BESS projects, the companies said.

Emeren CEO Yumin Liu said BESS systems are vital for the future of renewable energy and the company wants to become a leader in the market.

ESS in 50MW iron flow Germany battery project

Battery storage firm ESS announced plans on June 15 to build a 50MW/500MWh iron flow battery system in eastern Germany in partnership with domestic energy firm LEAG.

The flow battery system at the Boxberg Power Plant site is to be commissioned in 2027, following definitive agreements and financial close for the project, which are expected in the third quarter of this year.

ESS said the 50MW battery module is set to become a standardized building block in LEAG’s plan to deploy 2GWh-3GWh of long duration energy storage.

LEAG and partners plan to invest €200 million ($217 million) and say additional investments are expected as plans progress.

LEAG is a major operator of large-scale lignite mining and coal-fired generation in eastern Germany and wants to transform the coal-dependent region.

The firm plans to develop 7GW-14GW of renewable generation paired with 2GWh-3GWh of energy storage and 2GW of green hydrogen production.

Wind and solar generating infrastructure is already being developed at Boxberg.

India to review EV policy amid lithium ion over-reliance on China

India’s drive to encourage increased take-up of EVs is set to be reviewed amid fears of an over reliance on China, according to the India Lead Zinc Development Association.

ILZDA said in its latest e-newsletter, released on June 14, that the powerful NITI Aayog policy thinktank — also known as the “brains trust” advising Indian prime minister Narendra Modi — plans to

review policies on lithium ion-powered EVs because about 75% of the vehicles are imported from China.

A section within India’s government reckons the country should not be heavily reliant on China and should instead explore other green sources to power future vehicles, ILZDA said.

NITI Aayog director Sudhendu Sinha told the International Conference on Lead & Lead Batteries in

EMEA director of ESS Alan Greenshields told Batteries International the power module for Boxberg will be built at the company’s Oregon plant

in the US — but there are “ongoing discussions about the right point in time” to also have the firm’s batteries assembled in Europe.

New Delhi last December that the industry should be quick to counter any suggestions that new energy technologies could replace lead as a traditional battery industry.

Sinha said India could not become reliant on any particular battery chemistry or technology and warned that while a number of battery technologies can coexist, “those that are not focused on safety, the environment, safe and sound disposal and traceability will gradually become extinct”.

Nano One in LFP collaboration with Our Next Energy

Nano One Materials and Our Next Energy have signed a joint development agreement to collaborate on the validation, qualification and production of a North American supply of LFP cathode active materials (CAM), the companies said on June 14.

The CAM will be produced at Nano One’s Pilot plant in Candiac, Quebec for potential use in cells for Our Next Energy’s Aries and Gemini energy storage system batteries.

Nano One said it is repurposing the Candiac site to use its patented One-Pot process for the pilot production of LFP CAM, with re-commissioning scheduled for the third quarter of 2023.

Dan Blondal, Nano One CEO and founder, said the partners aimed to develop a “robust and economicallyresilient LFP battery supply chain that is decoupled and environmentally differentiated from the dominance of the overseas market”.

Our Next Energy started production of its Aries LFP battery pack earlier this year.

The company is also building its first battery cell factory, ONE Circle, which is a 20GWh facility in Michigan that should start operations in 2024.

Nano One announced in February it had completed a key milestone in its cathode materials and techno-economic modelling process with an unnamed global auto manufacturer.

ABB starts up 50MW BESS in Philippines

ABB has started up the 50MW BESS it supplied to Universal Power Solutions to strengthen the reliability and stability of the grid on the main Philippines island of Luzon.

ABB said on June 7 its NMC LFP system was its first eStorage Max, preengineered, modular, largescale BESS delivered in the Asia-Pacific region.

Financial details of the project in Limay were not disclosed.

ABB said Limay forms part of a broader contract with Universal, part of San Miguel Corporation Global Power Holdings, for a total 240MW BESS capacity to support the grid on the islands of Luzon and Visayas.

ABB said the Philippines aims to achieve 35% renewable energy generation by 2030 and 50% by 2040.

Calogero Saeli, Global product group manager at ABB, said the project will ensure that the grid is more stable and able to cope with reliability challenges associated with moving to a stronger mix of renewables.

From left: Thorsten Kramer, CEO of LEAG, ESS CEO Eric Dresselhuys and Philipp Offenberg, senior manager Europe for Breakthrough Energy.

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Morrow opens Norway R&D hub

Morrow Batteries opened its research and innovation hub on June 9 that will spearhead further development of the company’s battery tech.

The Morrow Research Centre in Norway is at the University of Agder’s Campus in Grimstad and will produce small battery cells to validate and determine various battery components’ optimal composition and structure.

The facility spans

2,000m2 with an additional 1,700m2 of office space.

Morrow said the center is backed by an unnamed large European automaker through a joint development agreement.

The on-site research team will be responsible for advanced material testing and battery cell testing, including experimenting with new processes and materials.

The facility’s lab includes

Slovenia gets EU green light for BESS state aid

The European Commission said on June 9 it had approved a €150 million ($163 million) state-aid scheme to develop battery storage and renewables in Slovenia.

This follows a spate of recent approvals for EU member states to support battery storage-related projects, amid concerns the bloc is lagging behind the US and Asia in investments.

Slovenia plans to provide individual grants of up to €25 million per beneficiary

to encourage investment in ramping up clean energy projects.

The aid package was approved under the EU’s state aid temporary crisis and transition framework, designed to incentivize the production of equipment for the transition towards a net-zero economy.

In May, the Commission announced approval of an €837 million Spanish aid scheme to finance battery production.

KORE Power set for $850m US battery cells plant loan

KORE Power said on June 9 it had received a conditional commitment for a US federal loan of $850 million to build an advanced battery cells plant in Arizona.

KORE said the loan from the US Department of Energy’s loan programs office, through the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing initiative, will be used to fund construction of the 1,330,000 ft2 KOREPlex facility.

KOREPlex will produce NMC and LFP cells for EV and BESS batteries to be made at the site.

Civil works on the facility started late last year and operations should start by the end of next year or early 2025.

KORE is working with local colleges and universities in Arizona to establish training programs for the facility’s future workforce.

With its initial lines fully operational, the KOREPlex will have an annual production capacity of 6GWh of battery cells.

The company says it could further increase annual domestic production based on demand for lithium ion batteries.

a dry room and equipment for making and testing active cathode materials and for conducting advanced analyses of materials, electrodes and battery cells.

Morrow is scheduled to start industrial-scale battery cells production at its gigafactory in Arendal, on Norway’s south coast, in 2024.

Schuler project to expand battery sector expertise

A project designed to boost business opportunities for European firms serving the battery sector and counter the impact of Asian rivals was launched on June 2, the Schuler Group has announced.

Schuler said the ‘ENLARGE — interoperable production as enabler for a data-driven battery value chain’ project is backed by funding from Germany’s federal education and research ministry.

The aim is to pool the expertise of German and European companies to serve the growing market for battery cell production equipment and to create a counterweight to established suppliers, especially from Asin region, Schuler said.

The project is to run for three years and aims to develop uniform systems for data exchange, described as a “kind of meta-

standard for battery cell production” to boost cooperation and networking among firms.

Hermann Uchtmann, head of battery mass production solutions at Schuler, said: “The goal is flexible, networked and adaptive battery production.

“This is the only way that mechanical and plant engineering in Germany and Europe will be able to bid for equipment for the gigafactories that are being set up around the world.”

In addition to Schuler, project partners and associates include the German Engineering Federation, Fraunhofer Research Unit for Battery Cell FFB, Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA and Siemens.

Schuler completed its acquisition of the Sovema Group last September.

Toray investment ‘to boost Korean separators business’

Toray Advanced Materials Korea (TAK) said on June 1 it had signed a contract to acquire a 70% stake in Toray Battery Separator Film Korea (Toray BSF). Both companies are part of the Toray Industries group.

South Korea-based Toray BSF is also the core production base for separators supplied by the group’s operations in Japan to battery makers worldwide.

TAK said the acquisition, for an undisclosed

sum, would help the group strengthen Korea’s battery supply chain at a time when demand for separators is expected to accelerate — largely driven by the EVs market.

The deal comes after South Korea said in April it was launching a multibillion dollar program to defend and expand its battery industry, amid fears lucrative US tax breaks and incentives are tipping the global battery trade balance stateside.

Stealth Mode ‘On’

How Rubamin is silently building its zero-waste, circular and sustainable Lithium-Ion Battery recycling.

In an otherwise noisy and baffling Lithium-Ion Battery recycling industry, one company has been remarkably quiet. There have been no interviews of some maverick founder or announcement by some savvy VC or publication by a poster-boy scientist or sound-bytes from news, and socialmedia. That is precisely what makes the story of Rubamin noteworthy.

An innovative business group based in Gujarat (India), Rubamin has a turnover of USD330m and presence in multiple business segments. (www.rubamin.com) It is quietly and efficiently building a circular and sustainable capability for recycling of end-of-life LIBs and gigafactory waste, extracting critical metals for the LIB supply-chain.

About the Company

Rubamin India has 35 years of experience, and unique expertise in separation and extraction of non-ferrous and critical metals using its in-house hydrometallurgy technology. Its years of practice and networked infrastructure induce desired flexibility for processing heterogenous industrial wastes. Its proprietary solvent extraction technology isolates and extracts the elements in their pure ionic form before converting them into specialty metal compounds that go back into the same supply chain, thereby closing the loop.

Green Recycling Complex

Rubamin’s 60-Acres Green Recycling Complex, where the new LIB Recycling capacities are being built, is processing ~34000 TPA Spent Oil Refinery Catalyst recovering Molybdenum, Cobalt, Tungsten & Vanadium with Zero Liquid Discharge and Zero Landfill.

The complex boasts of Dupont Safety Systems, a 100,000 KL of water harvesting lake, renewable energy transition plan, Circular Transitory Indicator (CTI Score) of 30% and a Bronze Rating from Ecovadis.

Rubamin’s ultra-pure ‘Green Metal Compounds’ fetch a premium to the metal prices in manufacturing refinery catalysts due to their quality which matches primary compounds.

Industrial Scale LIB Recycling Facility

Rubamin has established a demonstration facility (KiloLab) that is extracting Lithium, Cobalt, Nickel, Manganese, Copper and Graphite from LIB Black Mass (Cathodic waste from shredding of end-of-life Lithium-Ion Batteries). With its internationally benchmarked metal recovery rates and high purity final products, Rubamin has paved

the way for India’s first industrial-scale, circular and zerowaste facility.

Mr. Bhuwan Purohit, Director – Corporate Strategy & Planning says, “Rubamin’s 5000 TPA LIB Black Mass recycling facility is set to be operational by July 2024. The project is financed from internal accruals and unlike most new start-ups, we do not need to tap capital markets.” This probably explains the silence around the company’s capabilities and its position in the recycling race.

Mr. Suresh K.R., Director & Business Head – Cleantech SBU says, “We will be premium Black Mass processors due to the value we provide to the shredding units and current lack of industrial scale hydrometallurgy solutions. However, we are now looking for technology partners for a clean and safe LIB Shredding Unit to serve Battery Manufacturers and OEMs wanting a one-stop-shop for EOL batteries or production waste.”

Rubamin is a co-sponsor of The Battery Show India and visiting The Battery Show North America to foster new business partnerships and to connect with Shredding Technology providers.

Posco de-risks battery material supply chain with EcoGraf graphite deal

Posco International, the South Korean steel giant, is to buy battery anode material products from EcoGraf the Australian graphite manufacturer, under a 10-year supply deal, the companies said on May 31.

They will also cooperate on EcoGraf’s development of graphite mining projects in Tanzania — with South Korea-based Posco set to provide financing, engineering and construction.

Technical collaboration on developing customized purification technologies will “de-risk short-term battery material supply” in South Korea, Europe and North America, the firms said.

Australia-listed EcoGraf is to supply 7,500 to 12,500 tonnes of battery anode material in the first year following the start of production, rising to 20,000 to 40,000

tonnes annually in years six to 10.

Posco said the deal helped provide a secure supply for its Posco Future M group business [which changed its name from Posco Chemicals last March] and which manufactures natural graphite anodes for lithium ion batteries used in electric vehicles.

A successful technical assessment of EcoGraf’s product performance has already been conducted.

According to EcoGraf, while traditional demand for graphite is largely tied to the steel industry, there is increasing demand for graphite suitable for use in electric vehicles.

Spherical graphite (SpG), also known as battery-grade graphite, is the product that is consumed as an anode in lithium ion batteries.

EcoGraf said flake graphite concentrate is processed into ultra-high-purity (>99.95% C) with particle sizes ranging from 10 to 25 microns.

These are then used as a battery anode material, with SpG’s special electrical conductivity making it a critical component in anode manufacture.

EcoGraf said on April 18

it had signed a framework agreement with Tanzania’s government for the Epanko graphite project.

The company said it would use its proprietary HFfree purification technology to process Epanko’s flake graphite without the use of hydrofluoric acid to produce high performance battery anode material.

Redflow to supply California microgrid flow battery

Redflow announced on June 1 it will supply a 20MWh flow battery system for a solar-storage microgrid project in northern California.

The zinc-bromine BESS for the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians — a federally recognized sovereign

nation — has been approved and funded by the California Energy Commission (CEC) under its $140 million long-duration energy storage grant program.

Redflow will supply 2,000 ZBM3 batteries in its 200kWh modular en-

ergy pods, for delivery in 2023 and 2024.

The company has signed a definitive supply agreement with Faraday Microgrids covering battery supply and technical support.

A formal notice to start on the project should be issued next month.

The project represents Redflow’s largest single sale and deployment of batteries to date, following the installation of a 2MWh flow battery system in California for Anaergia last year.

The Automotive Cells Company (ACC) has formally opened its €7 billion ($7.5 billion) flagship gigafactory in France — with the first of three 13.4GWh production blocks at the site starting operations by the end of the year.

ACC, a consortium of Stellantis, TotalEnergies (via its Saft subsidiary) and Daimler’s Mercedes-

Benz, said on May 30 the other two units at the Billy-Berclau Douvrin gigafactory, in the Hautsde-France region, will come on line by late 2024.

The site will produce lithium ion battery cells and modules across an area of more than 60,000m2, with total annual production capacity reaching 40GWh by 2030.

ACC said construction of the site took 17 months at a cost of nearly €800 million.

Meanwhile, production is set to start at ACC’s two other gigafactory projects in Germany in 2025 and Italy in 2026. By 2030, a total of 2.5 million battery modules will be leaving all three gigafactories each year, CEO Yann Vincent said.

Redflow CEO Tim Harris said the 20MWh BESS is one of several large-scale opportunities in the pipeline as the firm continues to focus on US and Australian markets.

“For this project, Redflow’s battery system is designed to charge from solar and discharge throughout the remainder of the day, reducing grid demand and boosting the energy security of the Paskenta Rancheria,” he said.

The microgrid is part of the Tribe’s efforts to achieve greater energy sovereignty and reduce the use of fossil fuels.

ACC opens flagship gigafactory in Hauts-de-France region

Posco Future M president Kim Jun-hyung waves the company’s corporate flag following the change of name from Posco Chemicals on March 20

Powin selects Jabil to produce BESS in US

Powin said on May 23 it had selected Floridabased Jabil to produce its Stack750E utility-scale energy storage system product in the US.

Starting in the fourth quarter of 2023, Jabil is to produce an initial annual capacity of 2GWh, with plans to ramp up to 4GWh per year.

Powin said it selected Jabil based on factors that included the firm’s environmental health, social equity and sustainable practices.

Stuart Bolland, Powin’s COO, said the deal underlined its commitment to building a domestic energy storage supply chain.

The move will reduce supply chain risk and benefit Powin customers who can take advantage of incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act for buying US-content products, Powin said.

The US Department of Energy has reversed its decision to award Microvast a $200 million grant

to build a lithium ion battery separator plant, amid claims the company has links to China.

Republican senator John Barrasso claimed on May 22 the company had “close ties to communist China” and should not receive US government aid or loans.

Barrasso has also introduced draft legislation that would prevent the DOE from making financial awards to firms “beholden to China”.

However, Microvast founder, chairman and CEO Yang Wu said on May 24 neither China’s government or the Chinese communist party had any ownership of the firm or influenced operations in any way.

Wu, an American citizen, said he was surprised at the DOE’s decision to withdraw the grant, “which was designed to help build a new facility in Kentucky that would employ hundreds of people”.

In the meantime Micro-

Brazil takes Li investments drive for backing on NYSE

Brazil has turned to one of the world’s major financial centers to energize investment in the country’s battery materials industry.

Secretary of geology, mining and mineral transformation, Vitor Saback, was at the New York Stock Exchange on May 9 to seek backing for the launch of the lithium valley project in the state of Minas Gerais.

Saback, representing mines and energy minister Alexandre Silveira, said the aim was to garner investment in the Jequitinhonha valley to exploit lithium reserves and become a supplier to the global batteries market, while creating jobs and improving livelihoods of the local population.

The investment drive came four months after

newly-elected president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was sworn into office pledging an investor-friendly approach to expanding the energy sector.

According to Saback, the area around the valley comprises 14 municipalities that have the largest lithium reserves in the country.

Lithium sector players Companhia Brasileira de Lítio, Sigma, Atlas Lithium Corporation, Latin Resources, Deep Rock and Lithium Ionic all have projects in the region at different stages of development, the mines and energy ministry said.

Studies by the Brazilian Geological Survey indicate the existence of 45 “high economic potential” deposits in the area.

vast intends to continue to invest significantly in its US expansion, Wu said.

“The DOE decision does not alter our plans to commercialize our polyaramid separator. We will continue to invest in a pilot line that will add 10 million m2 of capacity this year.”

Texas-headquartered Microvast was founded in 2006.

Chief financial officer Craig Webster said the firm’s priority was to complete its 4GWh cell and module manufacturing plant in Tennessee — on which work started in 2021 and in which Microvast has invested more than

$300 million.

“Based on our backlog of orders, we expect revenue in the US this year to be in excess of $100 million,” Webster said.

“The DOE decision also has no impact on our liquidity position, and in fact, it gives us more flexibility on how we plan to undertake our expansion initiatives in the US.”

In 2022, Microvast established its new energy storage division in Colorado along with a technology and testing center to support the growth of utilityscale energy storage systems in the US.

€4m

BMZ’s Visatronic

expansion plan for

Visatronic, the newly acquired subsidiary of Germany’s BMZ lithium battery systems group, is to invest nearly €4 million ($4.3 million) to expand production capacity.

BMZ said on May 31 that the electronic flat modules producer, which it took over as of March 1, plans to increase the production area at its plant in Mainhausen by 800m² to eventually double manufacturing capacity and sales — although the company did not disclose any numbers.

Visatronic’s workforce is also set to expand to nearly 100.

The project follows increased orders from customers, the company said.

BMZ founder and CEO Sven Bauer said in March that the takeover of Visatronic — a long-standing supplier to the battery company — “strengthened another important madein-Germany factor in battery manufacturing”. Bauer said such moves were indispensable for tech companies in times of uncertain supply chains.

Russian EV, ESS battery prototypes

Russia claimed on May 12 it will have produced prototype batteries to power a domestic range of EVs and energy storage systems by the middle of the year.

State-owned Rosatom says its energy storage manufacturing subsidiary, Renera, will have the first

lithium ion battery prototypes ready by mid-2023.

The company said the EV batteries will have a driving range of up to 500km and be adapted to operation and charging at low temperatures, taking into account Russia’s complex weather.

‘ready this year’

SSE go-ahead for 150MW BESS project in UK

SSE Renewables has taken a final investment decision to build a 150MW BESS at a former coal-fired power station in the UK, the company said on May 12.

Financial details of the plans for the former Ferrybridge plant in West Yorkshire were not disclosed. However, SSE said the project is part of a £25 billion ($31 billion) investment program.

Construction was set to start in May with grid connection confirmed for June 2024.

Sungrow Power Supply has been contracted to provide its liquid cooled, lithium-based PowerTitan energy storage technology for the project.

SSE also announced that its Solar and Battery team is to become part of SSE Renewables to develop a near 2GW pipeline of battery and solar projects in the UK and Ireland.

Germany aid pledge for Northvolt EV battery cells plant

Federal and state governments in Germany said on May 12 they will give financial backing for Swedish battery maker Northvolt to build a gigafactory in the country.

Financial details, which will require European Union approval under state-aid rules, were not disclosed.

But Northvolt said the backing would “unlock a multi-billion euro private investment”, creating 3,000 direct jobs at the 60GWh a year EV battery cells plant in Heide — which could start production in 2026.

Federal and state

funding will in part be made under the EU’s temporary crisis and transition framework, to support economies following the impact of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

If the EU gives the goahead, this would be the first time the framework funding has been deployed in Germany.

Northvolt said in March last year that it had selected Heide, in northern Germany, as the site for its third lithium ion gigafactory — dubbed ‘Northvolt Drei’.

New NYC bid to stamp out lithium battery fires

New York City fire commissioner Laura Kavanagh said on May 17 she would consider supporting further measures aimed at stamping out lithium ion battery fires.

The move came after NYC mayor Eric Adams said on March 20 he had signed five new laws that included a tightening of regulations on the sale of lithium batteries in New York as part of a ‘Charge Safe, Ride Safe: New York City’s Electric Micromobility Action Plan’.

Now Kavanagh has told an NYC city council budget meting she would consider backing a proposal for a buyback program, so New Yorkers could exchange the lithium ion batteries in their electric scooters and bikes for unspecified safer options.

EU go-ahead for €837m Spanish battery aid scheme

The European Commission said on May 11 it had approved an €837 million ($909 million) Spanish aid scheme to finance battery production.

Under the scheme, companies producing batteries and related essential components and raw materials will be able to apply for grants and loans.

The aid package was approved under the EU’s state aid temporary crisis and transition framework, designed to incentivize the production of equipment for the transition towards a net-zero economy. The maximum aid amount per beneficiary will range between €100 million and €300 million for investment in the field of batteries.

Eve Energy agrees battery plant deal for Malaysia

Eve Energy is to build a lithium ion batteries plant in Malaysia, the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) said on May 12.

The Malaysian arm of the Chinese company has signed a memorandum of understanding for the project in Kedah state with property developer Pemaju Kelang Lama.

Eve will invest the equivalent of around $422 million in the plant, which will focus on production of cylindrical batteries for electric twowheel vehicles and power tools.

Malaysian investment, trade and industry minister Tengku Zafrul said: “The establishment of a cutting-edge manufacturing facility dedicated to the production of cylindrical lithium ion batteries exemplifies this commitment.”

SAIC launches Thai battery project as CATL talks start Chinese auto firm SAIC Motor has broken ground for a batteries and EV components

plant on an industrial park in Thailand with Thai partner the Zhengda Group.

The May 2 announcement came the day before the Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) said talks were also underway with several companies, including China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), in a bid to expand battery production in Thailand.

BOI posted a report on its website quoting secretary general Narit Therdsteerasukdi as saying: “We are talking to many companies in the battery industry, not only CATL… to attract battery cell producers to set up factories in Thailand.”

SAIC did not disclose financial or production capacity details of its project, which it said would be fully completed in 2025.

Eve Power to build first Europe battery plant in Hungary Chinese battery maker Eve Power is to invest around HUF 400 billion ($1.18 billion) to build its first European plant in Hungary, the country’s foreign and trade minister Péter Szijjártó said on May 10.

Szijjártó said the government will contribute HUF 14 billion to support the project, which will be built in Debrecen.

BMW has already asked Eve to supply batteries for the plant it is building in Debrecen, Szijjártó said.

According to Szijjártó, 95% of the water needs of the plant will be provided from treated wastewater and surface water, and the company will also recycle part of the technological wastewater on site.

Impact Clean Power Technology Creates GigafactoryX

In a state-of-the-art factory based on Polish know-how, a battery system weighing up to 500 kg for e-mobility and power generation will be created every 11 minutes.

Polish company Impact Clean Power Technology of the Grenevia Group, a leader in the European electromobility market, has unveiled a visualization of GigafactoryX. This is a large-scale battery factory for electric vehicles and energy storage, which will be launched in the city of Pruszków, near Warsaw.

The modern plant, designed in accordance with ESG aspects, will be one of the largest of its kind in Europe. Its construction will increase Impact’s production capacity to 1.2 GWh in 2024 and more than 4 GWh per year in 2027. The fully automated, state-ofthe-art production line will make it possible to produce a new battery for heavy duty e-mobility every 11 minutes.

GigafactoryX’s production area will eventually be 16,300 sqm. Among other things, the factory will include a battery testing facility and an advanced research and development center.

Upon completion of the investment in Poland, batteries will be made for various types of electric vehicles, including those serving public transportation, such as e-buses, e-trucks and the rail sector. The plant will also produce energy storage systems designed for the commercial power industry, including for large-scale electricity storage. The battery systems will be based on lithium-ion cells in technologies: LTO (lithium titanate), LFP (iron-phosphorus) batteries and NMC (nickel-manganese) batteries.

The GigafactoryX project is another big step in the development of Impact Clean Power Technology. The first phase of the investment will allow us to increase production capacity to 1.2 GWh per year as early as next year, thanks to which we will guarantee the security of supply of battery systems for leading global brands, which are our partners.

Ultimately, in 2027, production will reach 4 GWh per year. The creation of GigafactoryX means that Poland will be Europe’s leading supplier of batteries for the e-mobility industry, all based on Polish solutions, comments Bartek Kras, CEO of Impact.

Additionally, it is extremely important to us that the new plant has been designed in accordance with the principles of sustainable development, he adds.

The design of the GigafactoryX building was prepared by Medusa Group. The architects’ goal was to create a new dimension of industrial architecture that would be more environmentally friendly.

In the design, this intention is reflected, among other things, through the wooden structure holding the exterior balconies and equipping the building with pots of greenery.

The pro-environmental trend is also reflected in the interiors designed by the COBU DESIGN studio, which furnished the office space with numerous green and plant elements.

Impact Clean Power Technologies’ business in the areas of battery systems, energy storage and electromobility is one of Grenevia Group’s four main business segments. The strong emphasis on ESG issues placed on the GigafactoryX project is a result of the Sustainability Strategy, which defines Grenevia’s commitments in this area.

In the case of GigafactoryX, this includes partially powering the plant with energy from photovoltaic panels. An en-

ergy storage facility for about 1 MWh is also planned, which will work in conjunction with the photovoltaic plant and the electric grid.

The company teamtechnik Production Technology Poland is responsible for the supply and installation of the production line that produces batteries for public transportation at GigafactoryX. It is a TDJ-owned company specializing in building automated assembly lines for the e-mobility, industrial goods and life science industries.

The technologically advanced, safe production line will be dedicated to the production of battery systems for electric buses in three references, with the possibility of expanding by more.

The first phase line has dimensions of 60 by 16 meters and is thus the largest project implementation in the history of teamtechnik Poland for battery systems. Fourteen engineers worked continuously for four months on its mechanical, electrical and automation design.

The flexibility of the line is influenced by the use of a production loop, which allows production to be optimized depending on the type of product being produced.

As a result, it guarantees savings in both space and costs for the investor. The safety of employees operating the line is taken care of by thermal imaging cameras; when an elevated module temperature is detected, the product evacuation procedure is activated.

The teamtechnik solution is also a key element for increasing Impact’s production efficiency. In 2024, the line will enable the production of 16,000 units of battery systems, compared to the current capacity of about 2,500 units. It also guarantees reproducible product quality, as it includes full automation of processes such as robotic assembly of individual components, batching, screwing, vision inspection and a range of tests.

It will use Bosch Rexroth’s TS7 conveyor system for the first time in the world. Assembly work is scheduled to begin in July 2023.

Thanks to the high automation of processes, we are raising not only the efficiency of production, but also the quality of the batteries produced.

The effect of the technologies used will be a fast assembly cycle of a single battery, which will be only 11 minutes. This is of great importance in view of the growing popularity of e-mobility and forecasts of increasing demand for battery systems in Europe, comments Bartek Kras.

Our cooperation with teamtechnik is a model example of cooperation and achieving synergies by companies that are part of TDJ. The combination of our competencies and development potential within one group enables us to gain significant market advantages. The support of both TDJ and Grenevia is an important support for business development and scaling, he adds.

The batteries for heavy duty e-mobility that will be made at the new plant owned by Impact will be a large-size productwith maximum dimensions of 1400 mm x 1000 mm x 400 mm and weighing up to 500 kg.

The design of the line will be based on technologies from the Industry 4.0 area, and includes the use of full traceability, NOK and re-Work policies.

Their production will be based on full product traceability, product management policies in case of non-conformities and their correction or repair.

The use of such solutions makes it possible to repair a non-conforming product already on the production line and run it through functionality tests again to get a result that confirms the expected quality.

The factory will be certified to IATF 16949:2016, ISO 45001:2018 and ISO 14001.:2015, ISO 9001:2015, as well as have the 6S system, which addresses workplace maintenance standards.

The commissioning of the first automated production line is scheduled for January 2024.

For more information, visit: https://icpt.pl/

The creation of GigafactoryX means that Poland will be Europe’s leading supplier of batteries for the e-mobility industry, all based on Polish solutions. Additionally, it is extremely important to us that the new plant has been designed in accordance with the principles of sustainable development.

Bartek Kras, CEO of Impact

In defence of lead … and lithium

ted in the early 2010s that many of the objections, mostly about price, were being overcome.

“We’re watching lithium batteries slowly climb the energy storage chain,” he said. “They’ve started to make the jump from laptop batteries to small hand-held tools. It won’t be too long before they will be powering golf buggies and forklift trucks.”

Trinidad’s projections proved true.

Now it’s hard to find a hand-held tool — from electric screwdrivers to chainsaws to vacuum cleaners — that doesn’t have its battery counterpart. In the past four to five years lawn mowers powered by lithium batteries have entered the market for electric versions given they offer freedom from a power cable.

And yet further up the energy chain, lithium batteries now account for roughly a quarter of the motive industrial forklift sector and their market share is growing by around 2% annually.

A decade ago if you mentioned “intercalation” to lead battery engineers their minds would go blank, probably thinking that it was something consenting adults did in the privacy of their home. Talk to the equivalent lithium technician and mention how important cast-on straps are in battery manufacturing and they’d think the same. Probably worse in fact.

In part it was easy to see the confusion, there was a bigotry on both sides of the battery chemistry mixed with an enormous combination of arrogance and ignorance.

And this came from both sides.

From the lead side of thinking, lithium batteries were just another fad that the battery industry would fight off.

“We’d seen off the challenges from fuel cells, supercaps, the laughable twotonne EV1 from General Motors and even sodium sulfur batteries in cars,” one engineer said to Batteries International just before the Covid pandemic.

“We were confident that while lithium had its role to play in mobile phones and laptops but knew that it couldn’t fill the spaces needed where heavy duty energy was needed.

“And it was at a laughable cost — we were looking at $1,000/kWh for lithium batteries to power a car when a gallon of gas [petrol] was just a few dollars.”

But commentators such as Francisco Trinidad, the former director of battery technology at Exide Technologies spot-

The price of lithium batteries may be close to double that of lead batteries (given some of the extraneous features required) but other factors come into play.

The total cost of ownership can be lower for lithium. The TCO, for example, falls if forklifts are to be used 24/24 in a multiple shift operation. The batteries no longer need to be changed so the downtime of being re-charged is avoided. There’s less inventory too, with no need for the extra battery for the charging. Moreover, the battery lifetime for lithium is longer.

“This ascent up the product chain was inevitable,” says Ray Kubis, a former president of Eco-Bat and EnerSys and now the chairman of bipolar battery firm Gridtential. “The amount of money thrown each year into research

For the last 15 years, the lead battery industry has been trying to come to terms with its potential usurper, lithium ion in all its shapes and forms. Most of the major firms have made real headway in their understanding but there’s still a long way to go. From both sides.

by the lithium battery industry is probably the equivalent of all the money invested in R&D for lead in the past 20 years … or even longer.

“Their investments have not been wasted and we’ve watched how lithium performance has shot up. If only if lead had done the same.”

In one of the more poignant reminders of this is the fact that some of the latest lead R&D using equipment, such as the synchrotron at the US’ Argonne National Laboratory, were first used to investigate lithium batteries over 10 years ago.

And lithium research at the ANL has not stopped. Just this February, working with the Illinois Institute of Technology, the research team announced they had tested a lithium-air battery that could power a vehicle with a 1000 mile driving range on a single charge.

Larry Curtiss, team leader and Argonne Distinguished Fellow, said at the time: “The lithium-air battery has the highest projected energy density of any battery technology being considered for the next generation of batteries beyond lithium-ion.”

This was as much as four times above the present day lithium ion and Argonne said “could even power domestic airplanes and long-haul trucks”.

Finding lead R&D

Mention of the advances being made in lithium highlight the attractiveness of the sector to new researchers and why most potential PhD candidates avoid lead — after all this is a chemistry that dates back to 1859 and Gaston Planté’s first rechargeable battery.

This explains the often insufferable style of many in the lithium battery industry. They see themselves as being at the cutting edge of technology and frequently as potential saviours of the planet as we drift into a new decarbonized world powered by renewables.

The fact remains, however, that they are not potential saviours of anything but advancers of an alternative energy technology.

In particular, all the earlier criticisms of lithium batteries on safety, price and recyclability hold true, at least to some extent. For some people — a leap of faith is the only way to find the industry’s claims justifiable.

“Much of the earlier enthusiasm for lithium came from over-excited motor car journalists, ignorant politicians looking for the next bandwagon to land on and a general public hungry for something new,” was the sweeping over-statement one lead aficionado

CHOOSING THE CHEMISTRIES: THE NEXT PAGES

• No one size of battery fits all needs and the same goes for chemistries, as our cover feature articles show.

• Lead majors Sunlight and Amara Raja explain why they are among contemporaries integrating lithium into their portfolios.

• Lithium ESS proponents Freyr, Fluence and Eleven ES give us their commercial perspectives and we also go back to battery basics, to consider various competing lithium technologies.

told Batteries International quite recently.

There may be some truth in the matter but a more informed look has to check out the technology.

In the area of safety, much improvements to lithium batteries need to be made. At the time of going to press a cargo vessel carrying electric vehicles was being towed to port after a suspected EV battery fire that immobilized the ship. In February 2022, the Felicity Ace container ship sunk at sea after days battling an EV fire for days.

This January, Havila Kystruten, a Norwegian shipping firm, announced a blanket ban on EVs and hybrids from travelling in their fleet — an astonishing edict given that 80% of all new vehicles sold in Norway are electric.

A report in 2021 by IDTechEx, a research consultancy reported that onein-three EV fires occurred with ‘no obvious cause’ while the car was parked. It also noted that 17% of EV fires occur in regular driving and a quarter occur when charging.

While electric vehicles do not pose a greater fire hazard than regular cars, their fires are more difficult to put out. They require a considerably larger amount of water to extinguish. While a burning petrol or diesel vehicle may need 1,600 to 2,000 litres of water to be put out, a fire in an EV often requires as much as 11,000 litres, mainly to cool down the burning battery.

Lithium critics can also point to the huge summer of EV recalls in 2021 when GM led a crowded field of manufacturers at a cost of approximately $1 billion, for GM alone.

Claims about recyclability continue to dog the lithium sector. The image it tries to project is one of being green — decarbonizing the world and so environmentally positive.

In fact it is the opposite. Despite the best efforts of some of the cleverest researchers, there is no way yet of recycling the commonest lithium battery — LiFePO4 — at a profit. The lithium extracted is minimal and the iron and

other elements have little commercial value. Instead the batteries have to be collected, smashed up into the black mass or smelted or hydrometallurgically treated. All that requires expense and energy for little of commercial value.

Recycling of lithium batteries containing cobalt, nickel and manganese can be profitable but waste battery streams carrying these metals can’t be guaranteed.

Recycling problems

Since lithium batteries cannot be put into landfill — they leach and poison the groundwater — they must be processed. The old rule on recycling lithium said that the price of recycling was 10% of every $1000 that a battery cost when new.

Another aspect of the green credentials of lithium is the cost of shipping it around — lithium mined in, say, the Atacama desert in Chile is dispatched to China where it is processed and then the cells are shipped to be made into batteries in Germany where they are put into cars that are then distributed around the world. At the end of battery life they are then shipped back to China.

But the counterpoint to all this is simply that of cost. Although the lead industry is eager to talk up the fact that the price for lithium batteries has risen in the past year and analysts suggest it is likely to remain at $150kWh for some time, the fact is that the price of lithium batteries has plummeted in the last decade from above $1,000kWh to present levels.

And even while the cost of manufacturing and shipping batteries is far higher than lead, overall the total cost of ownership of batteries for EVs can be less than lead if other factors are considered.

In the end, it’s a straightforward and astonishingly simplistic choice — lithium batteries are better than lead ones. Sometimes. And sometimes vice versa with lead over lithium.

Lithium iron phosphate — the new BESS standard

The demand for utility-scale battery energy storage systems that emerged during the early 2000s unlocked a global market for lithium ion batteries that hadn’t previously existed.

Cells based on nickel, manganese, cobalt chemistry dominated supply of lithium ion batteries for stationary storage as well as electric vehicle markets.

As lead times stretched and prices held, in 2018-2019 cell manufacturers in China began tapping into stationary storage markets in the US and Europe, with cells produced using lithium iron phosphate chemistry, regarded as inferior due to lower energy density.

Compared with China and the US,

the two largest markets for grid BESS globally, Europe has lagged despite its mature renewables market, shaped by early policy focused on decarbonizing power supplies.

In the coming years, Europe should pick up the pace of grid battery installations, from existing markets, including the UK and Germany, from Italy and Spain, where solar buildout is driving demand for storage, as well as from new markets, including Greece.

From 5GW to 95GW of grid storage Aurora Energy Research forecasts that Europe will install at least 95GW of grid-scale battery energy storage

systems by 2050, surpassing 42GW in 2030, from an installed capacity of just 5GW of installed capacity in 2023.

Average battery duration will increase over time, driven by the buildout of wind and solar generation, which will need storage to meet times of peak demand for power. Aurora predicts that batteries with over four hours’ storage capacity will account for 61% of total installed battery capacity in 2050, compared with 22% in 2025.

Today, Europe’s bid to establish a lithium ion battery industry is still in its infancy.

In the wake of headline-grabbing

Aurora Energy Research forecasts that Europe will install at least 95GW of gridscale battery energy storage systems by 2050, surpassing 42GW in 2030, from an installed capacity of just 5GW of installed capacity in 2023.

Europe’s emerging battery manufacturers see lithium iron phosphate technology as the most suitable and sustainable supply of materials. Sara Verbruggen reports on one side of market opinion.

gigafactory announcements, investors and owners are at vastly different stages of qualifying and preparing their cell technologies for industrialized production. Most aim to capture demand from the grid BESS market as well as EVs and several are backing LFP technology.

Freyr aims to have a gigafactories producing LFP cells from around the mid-2020s in Norway as does ElevenES in Serbia.

Sunlight Group, in Greece, which has been expanding its battery ranges to encompass lithium ion as well as lead acid, is installing a prototype/ pilot line for LFP cells to eventually be used in its lithium ion batteries. Italvolt, in Italy, will start with mass production of NMC cells initially but also plans to produce LFP cells at some point.

Rhomotion, a London-based team of analysts keeping tabs on a growing pipeline of more than 3000 energy storage projects globally, says the share of grid BESS projects that use LFP technology has grown markedly.

This growth has been mainly at the expense of NCM but also lead acid and other chemistries. In 2020 NCM accounted for half this share, LFP just over a third, lead acid less than a tenth, with other technologies accounting for the remainder. In 2023 LFP technology accounts for nearly 90% of the BESS grid battery chemistry split.

China is the leading market in terms of installed grid BESS capacity, predominantly using LFP cells, which have been exclusively supplied by Chinese manufacturers. Iola Hughes, research manager at Rhomotion, says recent policies around the inclusion of storage with new solar and wind installations have catalyzed even further BESS expansion in China.

The US is the next biggest market for grid BESS. Thanks to last year’s Inflation Reduction Act, standalone BESS will now benefit from the investment tax credit, likely to stimulate more grid storage investments. Hughes says it could still take a year or two for this to reflect in higher volumes of projects getting built and connected.

Europe’s predicted escalation in installations is contingent on changes to energy storage classifications, policy and increased revenue generating mechanisms.

According to Wood Mackenzie, in Europe most regulatory hurdles will be resolved before the end of this decade as demand for flexibility

surges and concerns over security of supply increase.

Several factors have contributed to the rising interest in LFP in markets other than China.

One has been around perceptions that batteries made from LFP cells are safer than those made of NMC cells. Hughes refers to a thermal runaway event that led to a fire in one of the Tesla Megapack modules during precommercial testing in 2021 at Neoen’s 250MW Victorian Big Battery in Australia.

“In 2021-2022 dedicated storage system integrators began turning to LFP, following some developers expressing a move away from NMC,” he says Bloomberg also points out that more production can be expected outside of China, following the last of the worldwide patents that control LFP production outside of China having run out in 2022.

Technological progress is another factor, with performance improvements in LFP cells occurring year-onyear.

Bloomberg also points out that more production can be expected outside of China, following the last of the worldwide patents that control LFP production beyond China having run out in 2022.

LFP continues to dominate, is a diversification of chemistries coming

With a 10-15 year head-start in scaling-up their processes, Asiabased battery cell producers have been able to improve production efficiency, thus pricing, compared with competitor producers in Europe and the US, Hughes says.

Márton Pap, project manager for ESS and programme development at ElevenES says: “We can benefit from the low energy prices in Serbia and the relatively low labour costs. Nevertheless, we agree that the EU should introduce incentives to European players so they can be competitive even in the early phases of their developments.”

When establishing partnerships with cell suppliers, BESS suppliers and integrators look for counterparty bankability, scale and track record.

According to Pap, ElevenES is one of the most solid lithium-ion battery projects in Europe, due partly to the industrial experience and heritage of its parent, Al Pack Group, that will help during the scaling up process, and partly due to its step-by-step approach.

“We are moving one step at a time so we can learn and get experience on a smaller scale before moving on to a larger scale: lab, R&D center, Mini Pilot, Mega Plant (1GWh), Giga Phase I (8GWh), Giga Phase II (40GWh).”

ElevenES makes prismatic cells, a format that has been in the market for several years. Blade-like cells are a sub-group of prismatic cells, characterized by relatively thin and long dimensions. The connect points in ElevenES’ cells are at opposite ends, as opposed to on top.

“Customers have to adapt their modules to accommodate this but that isn’t a problem for most of them. In return they can benefit from the advantages of this cell format,

Freyr reaches key milestone, moves toward commercial production for H2 2025

During the past year Freyr, in Norway, has reached key milestones on the journey to industrialized production based on semi-state LFP cell technology, developed by 24M.

Freyr is targeting commercial production in the second half of 2025 from sites in Norway and also in the US to meet demand for stationary storage projects in both markets.

“They need these cells, yesterday. The urgency cannot be understated so we would expect to start seeing them deployed in storage systems for installations in projects soon after,” says Freyr’s investor relations head, Jeffrey Spittel.

In December Freyr formed a company with Nidec. The Japanese company is also a customer.

Nidec Energy will be a customer for Freyr’s cells to use them to manufacture battery energy storage systems for various stationary storage applications.

Before the JV was set up, Nidec had an undisclosed independent lab test a package of 24M sample cells, which showed similar gravimetric energy density performance for LFP graphite batteries similar

and stable behaviour across the cells over several cycles, plus ther-

mal stability, says Spittel. Freyr is gearing up to begin shipping cells to potential customers to test, from its now completed Customer Qualification Plant — a 13,000 square metre demonstration production line — in Mo I Rana, in northern Norway. The cells will be tested within labs, including at third party facilities, equipped to collect data on how the cells perform and compare against data gathered on cells from other suppliers.

While 24M’s semi-state technology is simpler to produce it is not mature, so the plant’s role is a critical step in scaling up the production process, according to Spittel.

One of the next steps for Freyr is to get cells produced on the line out to potential customers so that they can submit them to testing, which would get these potential new accounts to a similar place where Nidec already is.

The majority of output will be to meet demand for stationary storage markets, including front-ofmeter utility-scale installations as well as commercial and industrial applications. “The interest is off the charts,” says Spittel.

Europe’s predicted escalation in installations is contingent on changes to energy storage classifications, policy and increased revenue generating mechanisms.

“They need these cells, yesterday. The urgency cannot be understated so we would expect to start seeing them deployed in storage systems for installations in projects — Jeffrey Spittel.

mainly the higher volumetric energy density,” Pap says.

While the blade-like cell format was initially produced for EV applications due to increased volumetric density of around 20%-30%, longer duration BESS — set to grow in Europe in the coming years — will favour cells that hold more energy. Pap says a trend observed in China is for the main LFP producers to offer blade-like cells to the stationary ESS market, which suggests it could be introduced in Europe as well.

ElevenES is working on improving various parameters of its cells such as energy density and cycle life. Each application has different priorities. EVs need higher gravimetric and volumetric energy density for instance, whereas in the case of stationary ESS systems, longer life-time is important.

The company is working on an ESSspecific cell that will feed into serial production which is planned for early 2025 within the company’s 1GWh factory, which could see the BESS installations featuring ElevenES’ LFP

cells from 2025-2026.

ElevenES is planning to allocate about 50% of its production to the EV sector, and about 25%-30% to the stationary ESS market. The Mega Plant, with 1GWh capacity, will supply ‘C’ and ‘D’ samples for the automotive industry, but for the ESS market it will already provide serial production. Giga Phase I in 2026 and Giga Phase II in 2028 will serve both market segments with large-scale, highly automated, efficient serial production.

ElevenES starts prototype production

Earlier this year ElevenES, in Serbia, produced the first samples of its LFP prismatic cells for sample ‘A’ testing for applications, including electric cars, buses and energy storage systems.

An ‘A’ sample is a functioning prototype of a battery cell that can be tested by potential customers and can be tested for chemistry as single cells. Several of ElevenES’ partners and potential customers will test the A cells in small systems, by building a module out of eight-15 cells and testing them as a module.

The difference compared to ‘C’ and ‘D’ samples is down to the manufacturing process in ElevenES’s Mini Pilot Plant, which includes manual steps, compared with the fully automated process of ElevenES’ future mega and giga plants where serial production will occur. The company will also supply ‘B’ samples, which are adjusted ‘A’ samples.

Its mini pilot plant, which has begun prototype cell production, will be preceded by the installation of 1GWh of annual production capacity by the third quarter of 2024.

Márton Pap, project manager for ESS and programme development at ElevenES, says: “For the LFP industry in Europe — or anywhere outside of China — the biggest challenge is scaling up. On our mini pilot plant line we are already able to identify and address or iron out issues that could otherwise potentially hinder scaling up to automated production in our planned giga plants.”

The facilities include a 1GWh factory, as well as planned 8GWh and 40GWh lines.

ElevenES is working towards achieving at least 60% of EU/localized content in its LFP cells within three years’ time. “This is challenging to do. Almost every part of an LFP battery cell in operation in a battery system comes from Asia or China today,” says Pap.

“It requires sourcing local materials and we’re in talks with Chinese companies with regard to their plans to establish in Europe. Ultimately, we’ll produce the cathode active material in-house, which means sourcing supplies of lithium carbonate and iron phosphate. We’re working to a 2026/2027 timetable,” Pap says.

ElevenES was set up in 2019 by its parent company — a manufacturer of aluminium packaging used in the pharmaceuticals and food industries, called AI Pack Group.

The CEO could see that the coating processes used in making the aluminium packaging could be adapted for producing lithium ion battery cells, says Pap.

Future customers for the company’s cells include, besides automotive original equipment manufacturers, producers of turnkey battery systems that also source components down to cell level as well as suppliers of racks and modules to the stationary storage industry.

“Feedback from everyone towards having a localized supply chain for the European and regional ESS market has been positive, for the most because of simpler logistics and shorter supply chains.

“Some see a European lithium ion battery supply chains as a way of avoiding potential trade wars and embargoes. There is, of course, the question about price but we’re happy to see them follow our progress and in some cases we’ll engage in co-development of modules,” Pap says.

ElevenES is working towards achieving at least 60% of EU/localized content in its LFP cells within three years’ time. This is challenging to do. Almost every part of an LFP battery cell in operation in a battery system comes from Asia or China today

— Márton Pap

In testing times, the battery industry needs a reliable partner

As the lead battery sector steps up the industry’s presence in a range of applications, from automotive to energy storage, telecoms and critical power, the subject of expanding R&D has re-emerged as an important topic of discussion at conferences.

At Battery Council International’s annual conference in 2022 panellists and delegates alike called for more investment in R&D and greater efforts to engage government agencies, national laboratories and the next generation of battery scientists and professionals to focus on advanced lead batteries.

R&D was again a topic of debate at BCI’s 2023 annual conference –and is also a constant on the agenda of other global industry bodies

including the International Lead Association and the Consortium for Battery Innovation.

R&D focus

Mark Hulse, vice president of sales and marketing for Maccor, acknowledges that the lead battery industry has increased its focus on R&D as lithium and other battery chemistry contenders push further into battery markets —and he welcomes that.

Maccor has strong connections with businesses in lithium ion, lithium metal air and solid state and Hulse is now encouraging the lead battery industry to let Maccor help them as they strive to make the next technological advances in their products.

Hulse has been with Maccor for nearly 30 years and says it is great to see a resurgence of R&D for lead acid. However, he also sees a need to focus on additives and related materials to further improve lead products.

And it’s especially important for Maccor to be forging new partnerships with lead battery makers too, “because we cut our teeth on R&D and supporting advances in technologies”, Hulse says.

Maccor has strong connections with businesses in lithium ion, lithium metal air and solid state and Hulse is now encouraging the lead battery industry to let Maccor help them as they strive to make the next technological advances in their products.

The company does work with systems for some lead acid firms but usually more in areas where those

players are also developing products using other battery chemistries.

As lead acid is a mature technology, R&D waned for some years, but with lead acid now firmly on the R&D track, Hulse says “they would greatly benefit from our speed, accuracy, performance and reliability”.

“We have the most accurate systems and one of the fastest systems in terms of control measuring and that is what you need in terms of R&D.

“You need to be able to measure the smallest of changes in equipment and materials and for that the most important thing to have is accuracy.”

Chemistry agnostic

Maccor has sold more test channels than all of its competitors combined and Hulse points out that Maccor’s expertise can supply channels that run down to nanoamp scale.

And while Hulse is keen to expand work with lead acid, Maccor’s testing tech is chemistry agnostic. Of particular importance is that program tests can be tailored to whatever the chemistry or product is.

It does not have to be a battery it could be another kind of energy storage device such as a super or ultra capacitor.

“We’ve been around a long time and that’s what we’ve been about from day one — giving our customers the most accurate and fastest channels.”

Maccor’s ‘Watchdog’ system can also check on internet and PC connections during testing and if a problem occurs, such as a cable being unplugged, can automatically suspend the test and retain results up to that point.

“All of our channels have what we call isolation relays. The isolation relay opens up to isolate the device under test if a test is suspended for any reason. Also, if a customer is having an issue we have the best customer service department in the industry.”

Applications

Existing clients cover a wide range of applications including materials, medical, home & garden, cell manufacturing, pack manufacturing, e-mobility, automotive and aerospace. Maccor is also involved working with US national labs in research for the Department of Energy and federal government.

In terms of cost, Hulse acknowledges that in tough economic times budgeting for the best can be a difficult call for finance chiefs (even if advised to do so by technical managers) but then it is important to think about the cost of not investing in the best testing technology out there.

“If money was no object I know most everybody would come to us because they know we’re the best in the business for everything from testing to performance and reliability and customer service.”

Ownership cost

Hulse said the importance of understanding cost of ownership has grown over the past 20 years or so as cheaper testing systems have emerged. But the comparisons are stark. Maccor has many customer’s with systems that are more than 15 years old and still running reliably with the company’s support.

Compare that to one client that had to be ‘rescued’ by Maccor after they bought a cheaper system that

barely lasted a few months before problems with reliability began to emerge, costing the firm time and money. They eventually bought a system from Maccor and the original purchase sits there unused.

Maccor sold its first Windowsbased system nearly 26 years ago now (earlier systems were DOS based) yet they can run even the latest version of Maccor’s software without hardware upgrades.

When a company buys a tester Maccor never charges for software updates as long as they purchased the system from Maccor, which is unique in the business and there is also constant customer support with Maccor’s expert service team via phone and email.

However, Maccor has a strong presence in Asia too, where the vast majority of its customers are involved in batteries but there are also those who need to test fuel cells and rely on Maccor’s precision technology and support.

Looking ahead to how the business will develop in the coming years, Hulse says Maccor is focusing on a new processor coming on line that’s going to allow customers to run even faster speeds – in the range of sub-one millisecond.

Environmental susbtainability

Maccor is also responding to increasing demand for sustainability and climate-friendly services. The company’s new 8500 series is a return to grid system for higher voltage type applications, so it can handle anything ranging from approximately 50v to 1200V.

The 8500 requires less energy to run, therefore making it a powerful but green tech option.

The domestic US market currently represents around 60-65% of Maccor’s market and Hulse says Europe is probably in the lead as far as international markets go, with the UK and Germany being the biggest.

As global demand for sustainable supplies of energy continues to escalate, battery makers will be among those who are best suited to step up and help countries make the most use of renewables.

But battery manufacturers will need a reliable, accurate and trustworthy technology partner to convince power companies to buy their products – and Maccor stands ready to rise to the challenge.

“We’ve been around a long time and that’s what we’ve been about from day one — giving our customers the most accurate and fastest channels.”

Mark Hulse, vice president of sales and marketing for Maccor

Fluence: all flavours of lithium accepted

In Europe Fluence has projects and installations in 14 different markets, with the largest being the UK, Ireland and Germany.

The company’s most recent and also largest project in Europe is for transmission system operator TenneT for a combined capacity of 200MW, located at a substation in Audorf Süd in Schleswig-Holstein and Ottenhofen in Bavaria. TenneT’s Grid Booster concept will use Fluence’s Ultrastack, an energy storage system designed for transmission grids, which has been developed and tested in Fluence’s technology centre in Erlangen, Germany. LFP cells will be used.

Marek Kubik, Fluence’s managing director, for western Europe sales, says the company is cell agnostic and when establishing partnerships with cell suppliers Fluence looks for counterparty bankability, scale and track record.

“Cells are just one part of a whole system, which comprises modules, racks, the BMS, connections and other components, all of which have to be integrated to work seamlessly in each deployment. Therefore, the choice of cells can be influenced by

several different factors.”

From 2008, Fluence mainly used LFP cells in its first installations, expanding to NMC in around 20152016. In Europe almost all grid batteries installed by Fluence use LFP cells, while in the US some installations have NMC.

The company works with several cell suppliers, including CATL for LFP and Northvolt for NMC. An additional supplier is undergoing qualification.

In the US where demand for longer duration batteries of up to eight hours is increasing, there can be a preference for NMC cells, according to Kubik.

NMC cells have a higher energy density, compared with LFP and so can be used to build more compact BESS installations with a smaller footprint which can mean less land will need to be acquired or leased for projects. NMC cells can also be sourced outside of China, such as South Korea or Europe, which avoids tariffs in the US market being applied to LFP cells from China. In the balance these factors can lead to a reduced LCoS for certain projects in the US, he says.

Kubik says: “While NMC has a better performance profile, LFP cells are cheaper. However, market, location and project specifics will have a bearing on which technology to go with for each installation.”

Kubik says Fluence will not rule outsourcing actual LFP cells from Europe-based producers, though price is an important factor.

“There is increasing value and demand for more regionalized supply chains — from batteries to other core components. Energy storage doesn’t need subsidies but a political choice to onshore supply chains may need incentives.

“We see incentive schemes, such as the Inflation Reduction Act in the US, being the strongest driver for such localization of supply chains, but ultimately costs are decisive, requiring either higher customer willingness to pay or cost improvements elsewhere.”

KEY FACTORS IN LITHIUM ION CELL TECHNOLOGY

Price. LFP cells tend to be cheaper than NMC due to combination of raw materials and production in China. They were heading towards parity with lead before the pandemic and later invasion of Ukraine by Russia, but have spiked some 30% higher than before on supply chain shortages.

Safety. While thermal runaway can be more aggressive and occur more quickly with NMC cells, LFPs off-gas more, which can lead to explosions. BESS projects are designed in such a way that minimizes the risks concerning either. “The ‘LFP is safer than NMC debate’ is nuanced,” says one commentator. “LFP batteries can go through thermal runaway but it is about 10 times as unlikely as some other lithium combinations.”

Density. NMC cells have higher density over LFP, which can result in a BESS with a smaller footprint. Depending on the project specifics, the higher cost of NMC cells can be offset where space is at a premium, or connections and cabling is reduced due to the more compact design possible with NMC.

Recyclability. There are more recycling facilities in place for NMC and higher potential for recycling as nickel and cobalt are more valuable.

Raw materials availability. As BESS demand continues to expand this could become an increasingly important factor since metals such as iron are more abundant than critical metals found in NMC.

Supply chain localization. This is an emerging factor but one which is becoming increasingly important. If the materials used to make LFP cells can be sourced nearer to where cell manufacturing takes place, such as the same country, continent or region, dependency on other countries, not just for cells but actual raw materials is minimized.

Fluence is cell agnostic and when establishing partnerships with cell suppliers Fluence looks for counterparty bankability, scale and track record

— Marel Kubik

Sunlight Group’s Paris Deligiannakis spoke to John Shepherd about the company’s investment in lead, as well as its commitment to being in the vanguard of advances in lithium.

What dilemma in moving between lithium and lead battery chemistries?

Now in its fourth decade of operations, Sunlight is one of the titans of the lead batteries business and a major international figure in the industry.

The Greece-based group has been a dynamic European battery industry player that has established itself as an international force to be reckoned with — driven in no small part by hitting the acquisitions trail with a vengeance just a few years ago.

There appears to be no looking back and Sunlight is keen to show it is a first among equals of battery manufacturers. “Sunlight has been implementing a robust expansion plan with significant M&As around the world,” Deligiannakis says.

“Our objective and driving force for expansion is to increase or production capacity by adding manufacturing facilities to our existing units.”

The group also had in mind to expand its geographical reach in terms of sales and after-sales services.

Ongoing is the ambition to further deepen the vertical integration of the company by incorporating as much of the production processes in-house as possible.

Deligiannakis acknowledges the group’s roots in the lead battery business — which he says is the oldest and most widely used rechargeable battery technology that has supported electrification for more than a century to date and has helped the global economy grow.

Despite this illustrious past, he says Sunlight sees lead as approaching the limits of its technical capabilities while new technologies have — and will continue to emerge — as research into more cost-effective, sustainable and eco-friendly energy storage technologies continues apace.

“However, there are definitely aspects of lead-acid that still render this battery technology commercially vi-

able in terms of the cost and performance related to their intended use.”

Understanding the characteristics of competing battery chemistries and their suitability for different applications is key their future deployment, Deligiannakis says.

“This means that lead still has a future, albeit not necessarily across all variations and applications.

“It falls on all of us, the industry experts and leaders, to develop the best battery types for each application, considering all pertinent factors, as this will continue adding value to our operations and addressing the expectations and needs of customers and markets in the future.”

For Sunlight, the company has opted to forge ahead in lead with a focus on manufacturing products for a single application: flooded motive power.

Deligiannakis says the rationale is

Lead still has a future, albeit not necessarily across all variations and applications

— Paris Deligiannakis

Sunlight lithium assembly facility in Xanthi

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such lead acid products still have a role to play in less-intensive shift applications with limited, if any, charging capabilities.

For example, lead batteries are more cost-effective for low/medium density applications, which still constitute a viable market.

Sunlight has specialized in industrial mobility for decades, he says. “We know how to produce them well, at scale and on time to meet customer needs.”

It is for this reason that Sunlight’s board has given the green light for ongoing investment in lead production and why, Deligiannakis says, the group remains committed to producing high quality lead batteries for specific applications.

“Lead-wise, we see our growth coming from existing products and investments are geared towards expanding capacity and optimizing production via automation, with the focus being solely on flooded motive power.”

Sunlight is also investing about €10 million ($11 million) to more than double the annual capacity of its Komotini lead recycling plant in northeastern Greece by 2025 from the current 45,000 tonnes annually to 100,000 tonnes of soft lead and lead alloys.

Meanwhile, the group has invested in complementary lead R&D facilities to expand production efficiency and quality.

Innovation in internet of things (IoT) solutions relating to lead is another facet of Sunlight’s armoury for capturing more commercial markets.

IoT platforms developed by the group include ‘Sunlight GLocal’ and ‘Sunlight KnoWi’.

KnoWi is a battery monitoring system that can be used to monitor the status of motive batteries and the forklift trucks they power, in real time, from anywhere using WiFi and GSM connectivity.

The platform instantly improves the efficiency of forklift fleets, offering

SUNLIGHT READIES LFP CELL PILOT FACILITY

Sunlight Group has been transforming itself from a producer of lead acid batteries, for industrial mobility and other markets, to an energy storage company embracing a technology-agnostic approach.

Today the company designs, develops and produces battery systems based on lithium ion as well as lead acid chemistries that use its controls, BMS and software to optimize batteries in mobility, industrial and storage markets.

This year Sunlight Group will complete its €130m LFP cell pilot facility, co-funded by the EU as an IPCEI, which will be fully operational by the end of 2023.

The pilot line is the precursor to Sunlight Group’s plans to eventually establish an LFP cell factory, in northern Greece, within the next few years and to be serial producing cells in 2027/2028.

In parallel it will produce batteries for the ESS market, using sourced LFP cells, at its lines in Europe and in North Carolina in the US, where a new factory is being established that will be Sunlight Group’s second plant in America.

One of the key markets the company is targeting is grid storage and Sunlight Group is in talks to partner companies that integrate batteries within BESS systems and those that provide turnkey battery installations. It is progressing towards making announcements in the next few months about these partnerships.

According to Deligiannakis, in the meantime the company is also investing in establishing its own team focused exclusively on the grid BESS market, which will span R&D, engineering as well as

smart and accurate performance data, presented in a comprehensive, userfriendly way, Deligiannakis says.

GLocal is the firm’s proprietary smart cloud-based platform for its lithium ion batteries.

Despite its historic links to lead, he says the Sunlight of today is technology agnostic. “Our talented 200-strong R&D team (part of the group’s combined multi-national 3,300 workforce) works in five dedicated R&D centers across our operations exploring different chemistries and technologies.”

commercial activities.

One of the company’s main advantages is its investment in its R&D team as well as decades of manufacturing experience. This means it can work closely with a partner, such as a BESS integrator or supplier, to hone its LFP batteries for that partner’s specific requirements, which would also feed into the company’s own proprietary LFP cell R&D activity.

Deligiannakis says: “We are technology agnostic when it comes to batteries. For example, our industrial battery products range includes both lithium ion and lead acid — that gives our clients flexibility when it comes to which solution best suits their requirements.

“In the EV market NMC and LFP each have their different advantages. However, when it comes to the ESS market, particularly the grid BESS market, it is immediately clear that LFP is the best technology. Safety and increased cycle life are the big factors.

“With LFP, you aren’t dependent on sourcing critical minerals either, which means the batteries can be cheaper to produce and are more sustainable.”

He and his team focus on sales to OEMs and dealers in Europe as well as on the commercial performance of all EU-based commercial subsidiaries, in addition to product management for all of the group’s traction and small ESS products. He has more than 15 years of experience in strategy and commercial roles, including with firms such as McKinsey & Company and Vodafone Greece.

The main lithium battery technology Sunlight is working with is lithium iron phosphate. Deligiannakis says LFP’s “excellent characteristics” include no use of contentious raw materials such as nickel or cobalt used in NMC-type batteries.

He says LFP is expected to gradually become the dominant li ion battery chemistry, representing 40% of the global battery market by 2030.

The company is assembling lithium ion energy storage systems at its Xanthi facility in Greece and is building a

Investments are geared towards expanding capacity and optimizing production via automation, with the focus solely on flooded motive power

second such plant in the US, exclusively dedicated to lithium, in Mebane, North Carolina.

Separately, three automated production lines are being installed in Xanthi (one already commissioned) and one in Mebane.

“We’re investing heavily in these lithium assembly production lines, installing highly automatic and topperforming production lines with a 5GWh annual capacity.

Another two are operating in the newly-acquired facilities of Germanybased Triathlon.

“We’re also planning to invest €100 million in a new lithium ESS assembly plant, operative by mid-2025, with a 15GWh annual capacity of high-and medium-voltage systems for gridscale, commercial and industry, and home storage applications.”

In a related move, Sunlight is lead-

ing ‘ReLife’ (recycling LFP), an EU-supported three-year project, in partnership with a consortium of industrial and academic partners including Germany’s Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg and the Helmholtz-Institut Freiberg für Ressourcentechnologie.

The project’s initial aim is to establish a pilot plant with a recycling capacity of 500 tonnes of batteries annually at Xanthi, which Sunlight says will be one of a handful worldwide recycling all sizes of LFP batteries.

Following the successful operation of the pilot recycling plant, additional capital investments can ramp-up production and establish a full-scale facility with an annual recycling capacity of thousands of tonnes, Deligiannakis said.

As for the manufacture of lithium battery cells, Sunlight is installing a production-scale pilot line for LFP lithium cells at Xanthi — a €130 million-plus investment (€50 million funded by the EU as a designated ‘important project of common European interest’ and €80 million from Sunlight).

The pilot line can also be adjusted to work with sodium-ion batteries, which Deligiannakis said is regarded as a promising chemistry for energy storage that Sunlight’s own R&D ex-

perts are looking into.

Expected to be commissioned in the first quarter of 2024, the pilot line will develop “the optimal LFP cell that will then be produced on an industrial scale” in Europe.

The pilot will also serve as a “preparatory investment” in support of European ambitions for lithium ion battery cell gigafactories.

DEALS APLENTY ON ROAD TO EXPANSION

Since December 2021, Sunlight has completed seven M&As.

In June 2023, the group announced its most recent investment agreement with longstanding Portuguese commercial partner Logbatind, to further establish itself in the Iberian market.

The most significant of these was its deal, for an undisclosed sum, with Germany-based Triathlon Holding.

This February, Sunlight said it had acquired a controlling 51% stake in Triathlon. It announced the acquisition of all remaining shares in Triathlon in July.

Sunlight LFP batteries assembly in Xanthi

With LFP, you aren’t dependent on sourcing critical minerals either, which means the batteries can be cheaper to produce and are more sustainable

FASMELT

Just in time production: use it when you need it

Roughly 20 minutes to melt lead

Production rate is 3 tons per hour

Zero gas emissions

Amara Raja invests to grow beyond India

Nearly four decades on from when Ramachandra Galla founded Amara Raja, he ushered in a new era for the group in June 2021 with his announcement that he was stepping down.

In his 36 years at the helm, Ramachandra saw the company — named after his parents-in-law Amaravati and Rajagopala Naidu — grow from humble beginnings to become an Indian multinational conglomerate.

His son, Jayadev Galla, previously vice-chairman of the board, took over the group following the company’s annual general meeting in 2021, with a commitment to investing in a portfolio of businesses to maintain its technological and business leadership in the energy and mobility space.

Recent initiatives have included the launch of a subsidiary to spearhead the addition of lithium ion technology to Amara Raja’s long-standing lead battery manufacturing operations.

In the summer of 2022, Galla also revealed the company was looking into the possibility of expansion through greenfield investments or acquisitions for its lead battery business in the Indian-Ocean rim.

Now the head of corporate communications for the Amara Raja Group, Brijesh Menon, says the batteries giant has aspirations to grow even beyond Asia.

He told Batteries International: “We are looking at expanding our global presence, not just in the Indian-Ocean rim where we already have a significant presence but even in the North American and Europe regions.

“We are searching for the right fit opportunity for an acquisition.”

Menon said the company ships more than 50 million lead acid batteries annually with numbers “growing robustly every year” on the back of sales to help power the automotive, telecoms, datacentres and green ener-

gy storage markets, which he said are all high growth industries.

“Amara Raja Batteries has been one of the fastest growing battery manufacturers in the world and we hope to continue this streak.

“Our ambition is to more than double our turnover in the next five years. New products, new markets are all on the cards.”

The company posted net revenue equivalent to around $1.1 billion in the 2021-22 financial year.

Menon said the firm’s aspirations are aligned to India’s national mission to become a regional economic powerhouse on the fast track to growth, with a significant contribution from the fast-developing batteries sector.

Active encouragement of green energy initiatives by the Indian government, which has set a goal of reaching net zero by 2070, has provided the impetus to energy storage equipment manufacturers, Menon said.

The ‘China plus one’ strategy (a business strategy to avoid investing only in China and instead diversify into other countries) is also gaining momentum, he said.

“And if India can overcome its supply chain and recycling challenges then definitely it can dominate a larger market.”

Part of that move towards dominance comes with Amara Raja’s diversification into lithium ion.

The company announced plans to start developing lithium ion cells in February 2021, joining main rival Exide Industries in branching out into the lithium sector.

In May 2022, Jayadev Galla pledged to “fast track” the group’s development of a customer qualification plant for lithium cells while also building on its lead battery foundations.

And in December 2022, Amara Raja said it had agreed to a build a 16GWh lithium battery cells factory together

with research facilities in the southern Indian state of Telangana.

The new plant, situated in what the company has dubbed its ‘giga-corridor’ initiative, will include a 5GWh battery pack assembly unit, under the terms of a memorandum of understanding signed with the state government.

The first phase of that initiative should be in place in the next twoto-three years, Menon said. This will include a 2GWh battery cell manufacturing facility, a customer qualification plant with a 60MWh annual production capacity and an advanced energy innovation center.

Menon said R&D continues apace and Amara Raja Li ion battery packs in various vehicles have already clocked up more than 200 million kilometres on the road.

“Amara Raja also has strategic investments in companies that are doing some cutting-edge work in Li ion technology, so any breakthroughs there will of course benefit us.”

However, he said the company is not actively pursuing further such partnerships as of now.

Meanwhile, to boost control over raw materials supply at a time when Amara Raja is expanding its operations, Menon said the process of fully integrating the plastic battery components business of its supplier division Mangal Industries, with its battery manufacturing operations, is well underway.

The move was first announced in September 2022.

Amara Raja, which already receives Mangal’s entire output of plastic components for batteries, said the deal will also simplify operations and improve efficiencies.

Menon said Mangal provides plastic containers, covers, small parts, handles and jars that are used in batteries with a capacity of 37,000 tonnes per annum and more than 145 injection moulding machines.

He said the deal was in keeping with the battery firm’s mission to “consolidate and unlock synergies as we continue to pursue value accretive growth opportunities that will lead Amara Raja Batteries to the leadership position in the energy and mobility space.

Amara Raja’s batteries business, which was recently launched into the lithium ion sector, is committed to maintaining its lead automotive base and now new products and fresh markets are all on the cards, says communications chief Brijesh Menon

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Essential lithium

Lithium is the lightest of all metals, has the greatest electrochemical potential and provides the largest specific energy per weight.

It was not until the early 1970s that the first non-rechargeable lithium batteries became commercially available. Attempts to develop rechargeable lithium batteries followed in the 1980s but the endeavour failed because of instabilities in the metallic lithium used as anode material.

Rechargeable batteries with lithium metal on the anode (negative electrodes) can provide extraordinarily high energy densities, however, cycling produces unwanted dendrites on the anode that can penetrate the separator and cause an electrical short. The cell temperature then rises quickly and approaches the melting point of lithium, causing thermal runaway, also known as “venting with flame”.

The inherent instability of lithium metal, especially during charging, shifted research to a non-metallic solution using lithium ions. Although lower in specific energy than lithium-metal, Liion is safe, provided cell manufacturers and battery packers follow safety measures in keeping voltage and currents to secure levels.

In 1991, Sony commercialized the first Li-ion battery, and today this chemistry has become the most promising and fastest growing on the market. Meanwhile, research continues to

*

Also

or

develop a safe metallic lithium battery in the hope to make it safe.

In 1994, it cost more than $10 to manufacture Li-ion in the 18650 cylindrical cell delivering a capacity of 1,100mAh. In 2001, the price dropped to $2 and the capacity rose to 1,900mAh. Today, high energy-dense 18650 cells deliver over 3,000mAh and the costs have dropped further.

Cost reductions, the increase in specific energy and the absence of toxic materials have paved the road to make Li-ion the universally acceptable battery for portable applications, first in the consumer industry and now increasingly also in heavy industry, including electric powertrains for vehicles.

In 2009, roughly 38% of all batteries by revenue were Li ion. Li-ion is a lowmaintenance battery, an advantage many other chemistries cannot claim. The battery has no memory and does not need exercising to keep in shape.

Self-discharge is less than half compared to nickel-based systems. This makes Li ion well suited for fuel gauge applications. The nominal cell voltage

of 3.6V can power cell phones and digital cameras directly, offering simplifications and cost reductions over multi-cell designs. The drawback has been the high price, but this is levelling out, especially in the consumer market.

Types of Lithium-ion batteries

Li ion batteries come in many varieties but all have one thing in common — the catchword “lithium-ion.” Although strikingly similar at first glance, these batteries vary in performance, and it’s mostly the cathode material that gives then their unique personality.

Table 1 gives six of the most common lithium-ion batteries with examples of typical uses. Their full chemical names and colloquial short names are also given.

To learn more about the unique characters and limitations of the six lithium-ion families, it is helpful to examine the batteries in the form of spider charts. We begin with Li-cobalt, the most common variety used in cellular phones and laptops. We then move to Li-manganese and Li-phosphate,

automotive propulsion systems, as well as stationary and grid storage applications, also known as load levelling.

Isidor Buchmann, founder and CEO of Cadex and creator of the online Battery University explains some of the fundamentals behind the choice of lithium as a battery chemistry.

Never was the competition to find an ideal battery more intense than it is today. Manufacturers see huge potential for

Table 1: Summary of names given to Li-ion batteries. The article will use the short form when appropriate.

Cathode material ** Anode material

Power tools, e-bikes, EV, medical, hobbyist.

Gaining importance in electric powertrain and grid storage

batteries deployed in power tools, and finally address the newer players such as NME, NCA and Li-titanate.

Lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO2)

Li-cobalt is the most popular consumer battery. Its high specific energy provides satisfactory runtime for cell phones, laptops and digital cameras. The battery consists of a cobalt oxide cathode and a graphite carbon anode. The cathode has a layered structure and during discharge lithium ions move from the anode to the cathode. The flow reverses on charge. The drawback of Li-cobalt is a relatively short life span and limited load capabilities (specific power).

Figure 2 illustrates the structure.

1920mA. The mandatory battery protection circuit limits the charge and discharge rate to a safe level of about 1C.

Figure 3 summarizes the performance of Li-cobalt in terms of specific energy, or capacity; specific power, or the ability to deliver high current; safety; performance at hot and cold temperatures; life span reflecting cycle life and longevity; and cost. The hexagonal spider web provides a quick and easy performance analysis of the battery characteristics.

Lithium manganese oxide (LiMn2O4)

Lithium insertion in manganese spinels was first published in the Materials Research Bulletin in 1983. In 1996, Moli Energy commercialized a Li-ion cell with lithium manganese oxide as a cathode material.

The architecture forms a three-dimensional spinel structure that improves ion flow on the electrode, which results in lower internal resistance and improves current handling. A further advantage of spinel is high thermal stability and enhanced safety, but the cycle and calendar life is limited.

lattice, appears after initial formation.

The cathode has a layered structure. During discharge the lithium ions move from the anode to the cathode; on charge the flow is from cathode to anode.

Li-cobalt cannot be charged and discharged at a current higher than its rating. This means that an 18650 cell with 2,400mAh can only be charged and discharged at 2,400mA. Forcing a fast charge or applying a load higher than 2,400mA causes overheating and undue stress.

For optimal fast charge, the manufacturer recommends a C-rate of 0.8C or

Low internal cell resistance is key to fast charging and high-current discharging. In an 18650 package, Li-manganese can be discharged at currents of 20A–30A with moderate heat buildup. It is also possible to apply one-second load pulses of up to 50A. A continuous high load at this current would cause heat buildup and the cell temperature cannot exceed 80°C (176°F). Li-manganese is used for power tools, medical instruments, as well as hybrid and electric vehicles.

Figure 4 shows the crystalline formation of the cathode in a threedimensional framework. This spinel structure, which is usually composed of diamond shapes connected into a

Li-manganese has a capacity that is roughly one-third lower compared to Li-cobalt but the battery still offers about 50% more energy than nickel-based chemistries. Design flexibility allows engineers to maximize the battery for either optimal longevity (life span), maximum load current (specific power) or high capacity (specific energy).

For example, the long-life version in the 18650 cell has a moderate capacity of 1,100mAh; the high-capacity version is 1,500mAh but has a reduced service life. Laptop manufacturers would likely choose the high-capacity version for maximum runtime; whereas the maker of cars with the electric powertrain would take the long-life version with high specific power and sacrifice on runtime.

Figure 5 shows the spider web of a typical Li-manganese battery. In this chart, all characteristics shown appear marginal, however, newer designs have improved in terms of specific power, safety and life span.

Lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4)

In 1996, the University of Texas (and other contributors) discovered phosphate as cathode material for rechargeable lithium batteries. Liphosphate offers good electrochemical performance with low resistance. This is made possible with nano-scale phosphate cathode material.

The cathode crystalline formation of lithium manganese oxide has a three-dimensional framework structure that appears after initial formation. Spinel provides low resistance but has a more moderate specific energy than cobalt.

The key benefits are enhanced safety, good thermal stability, tolerant to abuse, high current rating and long cycle life. Storing a fully charged battery has minimal impact on the life span. As trade-off, the lower voltage

Figure 3: Snapshot of an average Li-cobalt battery. Li-cobalt excels on high specific energy but offers only moderate specific power, safety and life span.

Figure 2: Li-cobalt structure

Figure 4: Li-manganese structure

Figure 5: A typical Li-manganese battery Although moderate in overall performance, newer designs of Li-manganese offer improvements in specific power, safety and life span.

of 3.3V/cell reduces the specific energy to slightly less than Li-manganese. In addition, cold temperature reduces performance, and elevated storage temperature shortens the service life (better than lead acid, NiCd or NiMH). Li-phosphate has a higher self-discharge than other Li-ion batteries, which can cause balancing issues with aging.

Figure 6 summarizes the attributes of Li-phosphate.

Lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (LiNiMnCoO2)

Leading battery manufacturers focus on a cathode combination of nickelmanganese-cobalt (NMC). Similar to Li-manganese, these systems can also be tailored to high specific energy or high specific power, but not both.

For example, NMC in an 18650 cell for consumer use can be tweaked to 2,250mAh, but the specific power is moderate. NMC in the same cell optimized for high specific power has a capacity of only 1,500mAh. A silicon-based anode will be able to go to 4,000mAh; however, the specific power and the cycle life may be compromised.

The secret of NMC lies in combining nickel and manganese. An analogy of this is table salt in which the main ingredients of sodium and chloride are toxic on their own but mixing them serves as seasoning salt and food preserver.

Nickel is known for its high specific energy but low stability; manganese has the benefit of forming a spinel structure to achieve very low internal resistance but offers a low specific energy. Combining the metals brings out the best in each.

NMC is the battery of choice for power tools and powertrains for vehicles.

The cathode combination of onethird nickel, one-third manganese and one-third cobalt offers a unique blend that also lowers raw material cost due to reduced cobalt content. Striking the right balance is important and manufacturers keep their recipes a well guarded secret.

Figure 7 demonstrates the characteristics of the NMC.

Lithium nickel cobalt aluminium oxide (LiNiCoAlO2)

The lithium nickel cobalt aluminium oxide battery, or NCA, is less commonly used in the consumer market, however high specific energy and specific power, as well as a long life span, get the attention of the automotive industry. Less flattering are safety and cost.

Figure 8 demonstrates the strong points against areas for further development.

Lithium

have been known since the 1980s. Lititanate replaces the graphite in the anode of a typical lithium-ion battery and the material forms into a spinel structure. Li-titanate has a nominal cell voltage of 2.40V, can be fast-charged and delivers a high discharge current of 10C, or 10 times the rated capacity. The cycle count is said to be higher than that of a regular Li-ion; the battery is safe, has excellent low-temperature discharge characteristics and obtains a capacity of 80% at -30°C (-22°F). At 65Wh/kg, the specific energy is low. Li-titanate charges to 2.80V/ cell, and the end of discharge is 1.80V/ cell.

titanate (Li4Ti5O12)

Batteries with lithium titanate anodes

The secret of NMC lies in combining nickel and manganese. Nickel is known for its high specific energy but low stability; manganese has the benefit of forming a spinel structure to achieve very low internal resistance but offers a low specific energy. Combining the metals brings out the best in each.

Figure 6: Snapshot of a typical Li-phosphate battery Li-phosphate has excellent safety and long life span but moderate specific energy and elevated self-discharge. Courtesy of BCG research

Figure 7: Snapshot of NMC NMC has good overall performance and excels on specific energy. This battery is the preferred candidate for the electric vehicle.

Figure 8: Snapshot of NCA High energy and power densities, as well as good life span, make the NCA a candidate for EV powertrains. High cost and marginal safety are negatives.

Figure 9: Snapshot of Li-titanate Li-titanate excels in safety, low-temperature performance and life span. Efforts are being made to improve the specific energy and lower cost.

Cross-chemistry comparisons

Figure 10 compares the specific energy of lead, nickel- and lithiumbased systems. While Li-cobalt is the clear winner by being able to store more capacity than other systems, this only applies to specific energy. In terms of load characteristics and thermal stability, Li-manganese and Li-phosphate are superior.

As we move towards electric powertrains, safety and cycle life will become more important than capacity.

Never was the competition to find an ideal battery more intense than

Similar to the lead- and nickel-based architecture, lithium-ion uses a cathode (positive electrode), an anode (negative electrode) and electrolyte as conductor. The cathode is a metal oxide and the anode consists of porous carbon. During discharge, the ions flow from the anode to the cathode through the electrolyte and separator; charge reverses the direction and the ions flow from the cathode to the anode.

Figure 11 illustrates the process.

When the cell charges and discharges, ions shuttle between cathode (positive electrode) and anode (negative electrode). On discharge, the anode undergoes oxidation, or loss of electrons, and the cathode sees a reduction, or a gain of electrons. Charge reverses the movement.

All materials in a battery possess a theoretical specific energy, and the key to high capacity and superior power delivery lies primarily in the cathode. For the last 10 years or so, the cathode has characterized the Liion battery.

Sony’s original lithium-ion battery used coke as the anode (coal product), and since 1997 most Li ion batteries use graphite to attain a flatter discharge curve. Developments also occur on the anode and several additives are being tried, including siliconbased alloys. Silicon achieves a 20% to 30% increase in specific energy at the cost of lower load currents and reduced cycle life.

Nano-structured lithium-titanate as anode additive shows a promising

cycle life, good load capabilities, excellent low-temperature performance and superior safety, but the specific energy is low.

Mixing cathode and anode material allows manufacturers to strengthen its intrinsic qualities; however, enhancing one attribute may compromise another. Battery makers can, for example, optimize the specific energy (capacity) to achieve extended runtime, increase the specific power for improved current loading, extend service life for better longevity, and enhance safety to endure environmental stresses.

But there are drawbacks. A higher capacity reduces the current loading; optimizing current loading lowers the specific energy; and ruggedizing a cell for long life and improved safety in-

creases battery size and adds to cost due to a thicker separator. The separator is said to be the most expensive part of a battery.

Table 2 (next page) summarizes the characteristics of Li-ion with different cathode materials. The table limits the chemistries to the four most commonly used lithium-ion systems and applies the short form to describe them. NMC stands for nickel-manganese-cobalt, a chemistry that is relatively new and can be tailored for high capacity or high current loading.

Lithium-ion-polymer is not mentioned as this is not a unique chemistry and only differs in construction. Li-polymer can be made in various chemistries and the most widely used format is Li-cobalt.

Figure 9 illustrates the characteristics of the Li-titanate battery.

Figure 10: Typical energy densities of lead, nickel- and lithium-based batteries

IN FOCUS: THE LITHIUM ION CATHODE

Figure 11: Ion flow in lithium-ion battery

it is today. Manufacturers see huge potential for automotive propulsion systems, as well as stationary and grid storage applications, also known as load leveling. At time of writing, the battery industry speculates that the Li-manganese or NMC

might be the winners for the electric powertrain.

The long-term suitability of batteries for automotive use is still unknown.

A clear assessment of the cycle life, performance and long-term operat-

Table 2: Characteristics of the four most commonly used lithium-ion batteries

Specific energy refers to capacity (energy storage); specific power denotes load capability.

ing cost will only be known after having gone through a few generations of batteries for vehicles with electric powertrains, and more is known about customer’s behavior and climate conditions under which the batteries are exposed.

Average. Requires protection circuit and cell balancing of multi cell pack. Requirements for small formats with 1 or 2 cells can be relaxed

Very high specific energy, limited power; cell phones, laptops

Very high specific energy, limited power; cell phones, laptops

High power, good to high specific energy; power tools, medical, EVs

Very

1. NMC, NCM, CMN, CNM, MNC and MCN are basically the same. The stoichiometry is usually Li[Ni(1/3)Co(1/3)Mn(1/3)]O2. The order of Ni, Mn and Co does not matter much.

2 Application and environment govern cycle life; the numbers do not always apply correctly.

3. A fully charged battery raises the thermal runaway temperature, a partial charge lowers it.

Securing a slice of a $50bn ESS market

The lead battery industry could be in line for a $10 billion share of the burgeoning energy storage market within the next decade, according to the Consortium for Battery Innovation.

CBI director Alistair Davidson says research into upcoming projects and opportunities indicated that the ESS landscape is forecast to be 550GWh by 2030 with a value of $30 billion-$50 billion for all battery technologies.

Davidson, speaking to Batteries International alongside CBI senior technical manager Matt Raiford on the side lines of Battery Council International’s conference in May, say the lead battery industry has set its sights on securing 100GWh of that potentially lucrative ESS market.

Raiford says: “If lead batteries took

just 20% of that market as it grows — and we think it’s feasible — that would be an additional $10 billion value. That’s a key focus for us.”

CBI launched its first technical roadmap in 2019 setting specific goals for the end of 2022.

Key targets included increasing cycle life from the then 4,000 (80% DOD) maximum to 5,000 cycles for ESS lead batteries in order to fulfil requirements of the US Department of Energy and the European Commission.

The roadmap said DCA for automotive batteries including start-stop and micro-hybrid also needed to rise from 1Ah in 2019 to 2Ah.

Davidson said short term goals were deliberately set to have an impact on the market.

“It was all really market driven. We

used those targets to select our program. And the result of the projects that we funded have pretty much shown that we delivered on these goals that we set.”

There are now batteries on the market, primarily from our members in the US and Asia, that meet that criteria.

This means there are now have advanced lead batteries on the market oriented toward ESS that have an impressive globalized cost of ownership for the system, says Raiford.

“The way we view it as battery scientists is cycle life — most key stakeholders look at it from total cost of ownership.

“So we see stationary batteries now that really perform along the lines of lithium.”

CBI member companies are now deploying products that provide that level of performance using lead battery technology.

On research that has gone into achieving those targets, Raiford points to work on the automotive side to optimize the ratio of carbon additives and expanders, which he says has been instrumental in lifting the DCA level for all types of automotive products.

At the same time a lot of carbon research over recent years is now being deployed en masse, so EHF batteries plus carbon is becoming prevalent.

“It’s almost the status quo now.”

Raiford says when he joined the industry “DCA was abysmal. It was wretched, but now we consistently see even basic level products just through optimizing additives is at 0.5/0.7Ah.”

Companies such as ArcActive and Clarios have built on this fundamental research to achieve high DCA values, he says.

But the industry is not resting on its laurels. Davidson says further improvements are being pursued.

CBI is also looking at other applica-

Helping guide advances in technology through R&D is just part of CBI’s work for the lead battery industry. Maximizing opportunities for lead’s future clean energy role is also part of the mission, including a focus on…

“The ESS market is still immature but it has vast potential and the lead battery industry can and must take a share of it.

— Alistair Davidson

tions with companies to improve batteries particularly for energy storage.

The organization still has an eye on key markets for auxiliary batteries and says the huge market opportunity for lead in ESS cannot be overlooked.

Raiford believes some batteries being produced today are more than suitable for ESS, so a big focus for CBI is now on support for productization and front-end engineering.

He says when companies put in a bid for an ESS project they need to have a firm product ‘ready to go’, plus all the engineering know-how involved to bring all the systems together, correctly configured and with appropriate battery management systems.

“That’s 40%-50% of the cost of the bid right there.

“So we are already working with our member companies, mainly in Europe and the US to develop design documentation and methodology, so that when they approach the market that work is done.”

This will be vital in helping companies promptly pitch for projects and federal funding opportunities such as those in the US.

Davidson says CBI’s success to date working with consortium partners to unlock funding from UK and European institutions — including €10 million ($9.9 million) under the EU’s flagship research and innovation funding instrument, Horizon Europe — shows what can be achieved.

“This is finance generated from outside the CBI core project funding and we are going to push further and harder for more of this for lead-based systems in both Europe and North America.”

In the US, Raiford said the industry has gained a lot of traction with the US military.

This includes an 18-month project announced in October 2022 under which the Army is evaluating a range of lead battery energy storage systems as part of a $3.5 million program to enhance its operational effectiveness in disaster zones and in combat.

The program also seeks to demonstrate how the army can use lead batteries sourced from the US Department of Defense supply system and from locally available sources such as vehicles, while increasing the lifecycle for certain battery types to meet battlefield energy demands.

Davidson says: “CBI’s efforts in the US market include capturing not just the hearts of politicians and institutions but also the minds of scientists.”

The CBI and Department of Energy are supporting lead battery tech study programs within the US national laboratories network.

In one project, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is evaluating batteries from a number of US CBI member companies in a program funded by the federal Office of Electricity.

The program looks at everything from battery fundamentals to testing innovations to specific products.

Similar projects are under way at three other national labs — Argonne, Oak Ridge and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Raiford says such multifaceted growth will be fruitful for lead battery science in general.

Meanwhile, CBI is building on this as a pre-competitive group to help members target new business for lead batteries in a variety of sectors.

Davidson says lithium is a great technology, but it does not have the scale to meet all of the demand. “You need to play to your strengths and so there are great opportunities for lead batteries.”

He cites work being done by companies such as Advanced Battery Concepts to corner a share of the

global ESS market with its bipolar technology.

This includes ABC’s partnership with India’s Exide Industries to “scope-out and define a program” for jointly commercializing ABC’s ‘BOXBE’ systems, comprising the firm’s proprietary EverGreenSeal bipolar battery technology, for the Indian market.

Raiford and Davidson see AsiaPacific as an exciting backdrop for growth of lead-based ESS systems.

In India, there is almost 100GWh of lead battery production capacity between Exide Industries and Amara Raja alone.

India is just starting the hybridization push, which is expected to see a boost for lead battery sales. Raiford notes the introduction of diesel engine restrictions and the move to micro hybrid vehicles can also drive economic growth.

In addition, CBI has signed a cooperation partnership agreement with the India Energy Storage Alliance.

China holds promise too. CBI will hold its latest annual workshop there in September following the 20ABC conference. Davidson says around 200 attended the China workshop pre-Covid and the expectation is to expand on that number.

Lead battery major Leoch joined CBI earlier this year, becoming the 122nd member firm and there are three other entities belonging to CBI including battery manufacturers Shandong Jinkeli Power Sources Technology, Narada Power and Chinese research institute Zhejiang Qian Li Zhi Xin Science and Technology.

Bipolar tech in particular has great potential and Davidson revealed that CBI is also developing bipolar lead battery project bids in Europe, although declined to disclose more at this stage.

Raiford says the lead battery industry collectively now wants to raise the bar in terms of innovation and growth.

“The ESS market is still immature but it has vast potential and the lead battery industry can and must take a share of it.

“Back in 2016, when I really started looking into this market and saw the numbers being predicted in terms of projects and expansion I personally thought it could not be right.”

But Raiford admits he was wrong. “All that I thought then were pie-inthe-sky forecasts for ESS are now being met — and the lead battery industry globally can share in that.”

“If lead batteries took just 20% of that market as it grows — and we think it’s feasible — that would be an additional $10 billion value. That’s a key focus for us.”

— Matt Raiford

Digging deeper into the structures at the heart of the lead battery

The physical properties of solids are, of course, dependent on their chemical composition and the spatial distribution of the constituent atoms. Diffraction methods, using X-rays or neutrons, can provide not only the 3-dimensional coordinates of atomic positions but also the percentage occupancy of each such site.

Further, the structural model of the crystal is generally subjected to a least-squares refinement process to minimize the difference between observed and calculated diffraction patterns.

This type of calculation provides standard deviations for each of the positional and site-occupancy parameters and an overall indication of the confidence with which the model structure can be viewed. Such data are invaluable in the process of unravelling the chemistry of charge and discharge reactions in batteries.

In this article, we highlight two cases where neutron diffraction has shed new light on aspects of lead–acid battery chemistry.

Whereas X-ray scattering factors for heavy atoms are much greater than those for light atoms there is not the same disparity between the neutron scattering lengths for heavy and light atoms. Therefore, neutrons are particularly useful for the study of structures of lead compounds that contain both hydrogen and oxygen.

The first, and perhaps a more significant topic, is the recognition of the full range of stoichiometry that can be sustained by the crystal structure of beta lead dioxide and the amorphous material that occurs alongside the oxide in the active mass of the positive plate (PAM) of the battery.

The second topic relates to the formula of the compound heretofore known as ‘tribasic lead sulfate’.

The Positive Active Mass Lead dioxide

The different neutron studies of lead dioxide were initially published in many different Journals. Nevertheless, it was not until recently that they were assessed in a coordinated manner.

Once the results of these studies are drawn together [1], the nature of the discharge reaction in the positive active mass is as shown in Figure 1.

The equation as written above the schematic requires that all the reactants converge in the reaction

zone. In other words, there must be an adequate flux of electrons to (and from) the interface where the electrolyte meets the surface of the oxide.

The conductivity of the oxide is crucial in maintaining discharge (and charge) reactions.

Nevertheless, the neutron diffraction studies have also shown that the stoichiometry (and, most likely, the conductivity) of lead dioxide can differ over a substantial range. More than that, the type of defect that is responsible for the non-stoichiometry varies depending on the way the oxide is prepared [1].

If the oxide is produced by chemical methods, such as the reaction between red lead and nitric acid then the product is oxygen-deficient (PbO2-x) and has been described as an n-type semiconductor.

If, on the other hand, the oxide is formed during an electrochemical process (as in the battery) then it is found to be lead-deficient with the charge-balance seemingly guaranteed by the incorporation of hydrogen (Pb1-yO2Hz).

For much of its operational life, the stoichiometry of the battery oxide appears to be close to Pb0.96O2 which would imply a hydrogen content of 0.16. This is in good agreement with the hydrogen content (0.16) indicated by neutron transmission.

Between the oxygen-deficient and the lead-deficient compositions there is expected to be a composition with a minimum of conductivity corresponding to the perfect stoichiometry, Pb1.0O2.0.

It is also anticipated that the conductivity of the oxide relates directly to the number of charge-carriers and this, in turn, is dictated by the degree of non-stoichiometry.

The latest diffraction techniques shed new light on the positive active material in the lead-acid battery and on the formula of tribasic lead sulfate writes Pat Moseley and David Rand.

Figure 1: PbO2+3H++HSO4-+2e- PbSO4+2H2O

Neutron diffraction studies have also shown that the stoichiometry — and, most likely, the conductivity — of lead dioxide can differ over a substantial range. More than that, the type of defect that is responsible for the non-stoichiometry varies depending on the way the oxide is prepared

The extent of the non-stoichiometry is clearly an important parameter. Ian Steele and his team measured the way whereby the non-stoichiometry evolved with the cycle-life of cells provided by Cominco.

The research was funded by the Advanced Lead–acid Battery Consortium from its project on fast-charging (Project RMC-002A). Early in cycle-life, it was found [2] that the degree of lead-deficiency of the crystalline oxide when cycled with a normal charge rate was greater than when cycled with a high charge rate.

However, the cycle-life of the fast-charged cells was four times greater than that of the cells charged normally. Further research is required on factors that affect the performance of the PAM, particularly, in the following areas.

• What is the conduction mechanism of the electrochemically prepared variant of lead dioxide?

• Is the greater non-stoichiometry associated with a higher hydrogen content?

• Is there an optimum hydrogen content?

• Can performance (capacity, cycle-life) be enhanced through identification of optimum charging parameters (rate, temperature, acid strength)?

Amorphous material

Hard information on the composition and the function of the amorphous component of the PAM has been difficult to obtain.

Although one of the diffraction studies [3] has indicated that as much as 33 wt.% of the PAM can be amorphous in a fresh battery, high resolution scanning electron micrographs (SEMs) have provided no firm confirmation [2]. It appears, however, that the amorphous matter may be present as a somewhat thin (~30 Å) layer covering the surface of the dioxide crystals, as shown in Figure 1. SEM would find it difficult to detect a layer this thin, and it could account for the high local hydrogen content (30% per surface oxygen) that has been observed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.

A layer overlaying the electron-conducting solid in the PAM could arise because the oxidation of lead sulfate to lead dioxide is not a single reaction but takes place through a sequence of steps such as those shown in equations 1, 2 and 3 below.

These are the reverse of the discharge reactions proposed by Detchko Pavlov [4]. The steps involve the production and the consumption of intermediate species that are accommodated in the amorphous layer.

PbSO4 + 2H2O → Pb(OH)2 + H2SO4 (1)

Pb(OH)2 + H2O → PbO(OH)2 + 2H+ + 2e- (2)

PbO(OH)2 → PbO2 + H2O (3)

For reaction (2) to continue, there must be both electronic and protonic conductivity to (from) the point of reaction. Any change that disrupts either conductivity would result in a decrease in discharge capacity.

This model of the amorphous material is redolent of the solid | electrolyte interphase (SEI, see Figure1) that forms in lithium-ion batteries. The SEI must allow the charge and discharge reactions to take place but, at open circuit, it must also prevent the self-discharge reaction between the oxide and sulfuric acid.

References

[1]. P. T. Moseley, I. M. Steele, J. Energy Storage, 61 (2023) 106754.

[2]. I. M. Steele, J. J. Pluth, J. W. Richardson Jr, J. Power Sources, 95 (2001) 79–84.

[3]. R. J. Hill, Mater. Res. Bull., 17 (1982) 769-7.

[4]. D. Pavlov, Lead–Acid Batteries: Science and Technology. A Handbook of Lead–Acid Battery Technology and Its Influence on the Product, 2nd Edition, Elsevier, 2017.

[5]. P.T. Moseley, D.A.J. Rand, J. Energy Storage, 2023, in press.

A neutron diffraction study of the crystal structure of tribasic lead sulfate shows that the two hydrogen atoms in the formula – 3PbO•PbSO4•H2O – are not bonded to the same oxygen atom, as they would be if the structure included a water molecule.

Rather, they are bonded to two different oxygen atoms and therefore constitute a pair of hydroxyl entities. There are no discrete PbO units and neither a discrete PbSO4 unit. The crystal structure is thus seen [5] as an assembly of lead ions, oxygen ions, hydroxyl ions, and sulfate ions in the proportions 4:2:2:1. Consequently, it makes sense to record the formula as – Pb4O2(OH)2SO4 – and refer to it by the following name:

'Tetra lead dioxy dihydroxy monosulfate’

TRIBASIC LEAD SULFATE OR TETRA LEAD DIOXY DIHYDROXY MONOSULFATE?

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Showcasing innovations to help drive battery sales beyond the finishing line

Battery finishing line equipment expert CMWTEC Technologie has a commitment to excellence in everything it does — and latest products and innovations on show at the firm’s open house event in July won endorsements from existing and new customers.

Original equipment battery producers and other companies attending the event at CMWTEC’s factory at Grossmannswiese, Germany, saw at first hand several demonstrations of stateof-the-art equipment by CMWTEC’s team of experts.

Latest products on show included an end-of-line test machine for lead acid batteries and AGM/EFB finishing lines with proprietary data management software to record key data such as battery codes, test results, for OCV, CCV, DC, DeltaV and Impedance as the all-in-one solution.

CMWTEC also presented its Universal Test Station for lithium battery modules in the e-mobility sector.

A new business concept was unveiled that offers customers benefits including modular-based systems — enabling firms to add additional production stations as needed in line with investment and expansion needs.

The extensive new range of production equipment features a streamlined, practical and uniform design with removable function blocks for easy maintenance and use of many identical parts so operators can reduce their spare parts inventory.

A commitment to excellence and ensuring customer satisfaction is key to the philosophy of CMWTEC.

This was endorsed by those attending the open house event including Battery Manufacturer, ESAN Battery Turkey.

ESAN, which completed a deal to purchase a significant amount of equipment last year, praised CMWTEC for supplying state-of-the-art equipment to support its own business plans as it prepares to expand battery production. The Turkish company has bought two complete finishing lines –one each for car and truck batteries.

ESAN said that buying equipment of the highest quality, backed up by CMWTEC’s ongoing after sales and customer support, demonstrates to its battery customers ESAN’s own commitment to producing batteries of the utmost quality, performance and reliability.

Meanwhile CMWTEC is preparing to expand its manufacturing capacity at a new greenfield site in Germany as the company invests to meet an increasing order book.

VP of sales Michael Wipperfürth says the firm will be moving from its current factory site of up to 2,000m2 to a nearby greenfield site of 6,000m2 where construction is set to start soon. He hopes the move will be made next year.

The new site is close to Germany’s high-speed rail network with connections to Frankfurt International Airport, making it easy for clients to visit.

Find out more about CMWTEC’s products and services in its YouTube video https://youtu.be/0Ic3cn4K89M or visit the firm’s website: https://cmwtec.de

As lead and lithium battery producers ramp up production, CMWTEC Technologie is their high-tech partner of choice for the filling, testing and finishing equipment needed to stay ahead in the global race for sales

What the EU Battery Regulation means for cell-to-pack and cell-to-body design

The sustainability, design, and recovery of EV batteries are set to be overhauled thanks to the approval of the EU’s new regulations governing the battery market.

This June, the European Parliament approved new regulations that set out battery requirements, including a Battery Passport and recovery of certain materials.

In recent years, the EV market has been trending towards greater system integration, with technologies such as cell-to-body and cell-to-chassis designs that can be harder to dismantle or remove from vehicles.

The question now is: will this change with the adoption of these new regulations?

The new regulations cover the entire life cycle of a battery from the mined materials through to their recycling at end of life. To lessen the impact of initial manufacturing, there are requirements for more recycled content in the batteries but also targets for how much lithium (50% by 2027, 80% by 2031) and cobalt, copper, lead, and nickel (90% by 2027 and 95% by 2031) must be recovered from waste batteries. IDTechEx’s research reckons that 23.8 million tonnes of Li-ion batteries will be recycled in 2043.

Making the battery easy to remove from the vehicle and dismantle into parts could help recyclers in the long term.

Cell-to-pack batteries are designed such that a battery pack is no longer segmented into several modules. Instead, all of the cells are stacked directly together to reduce unnecessary materials and weight, improve energy density, simplify manufacturing, and reduce costs.

The average cell-to-pack battery exhibits a 20% increase in its gravimetric cell-to-pack ratio (how much of the pack’s weight is taken up by the cells). Cell-to-body or cell-to-chassis takes this a step further, making the battery pack a structural component

of the vehicles structure, again leading to greater integration and reducing the vehicle’s overall weight.

The market has been trending in this direction, with manufacturers like BYD already deploying cell-to-pack systems in large numbers and cell-tochassis designs becoming more common from the likes of Tesla with its 4680 pack.

One method of recycling is to crush/ grind the battery. This is then sieved to separate larger from smaller particles, with the latter containing the valuable electrode materials. The black mass is then further processed using hydrometallurgy to recover the lithium, cobalt, nickel, etc., in the form of battery-grade metal salts.

Ideally, this process would start with just the cells so that the resulting black mass has a higher % of the critical metals. Some have placed entire modules into the grinder; one could also process an entire pack, in which case, the design of the battery means little at end of life, and the designer could take the short-term benefits of a lower cost and easier-to-manufacture battery pack.

However, this will make the later stages of extraction more difficult.

Initially, one might expect a cell-topack design to be easier to dismantle to the cell level, given that there are fewer overall parts in the pack. However, cell-to-pack designs typically make much greater use of structural adhesives or encapsulating foams that can often make dismantling a pack very difficult, and the standard approach in the event of a fault would be to replace the battery pack entirely.

If the adhesives or encapsulants used can be dissolved with a solvent without damaging the cells too much, then this could make recycling much simpler and be a viable differentiation point for material suppliers.

With cell-to-chassis, removal of the pack from the vehicle can become a more arduous task, making a recycler’s job much more difficult.

Critically for battery designers, the EU regulations do not state anything about the internal structure of the battery pack (module structure, cell separators, adhesives, etc.).

In addition to recycling, there is also the opportunity for EV batteries to be used in second-life applications, for example, as stationary energy storage. This bypasses the need in the short term to recycle a battery, and most second-life battery players are opting to integrate batteries at pack-level to avoid complex and timely disassembly to cell-level procedures.

There would still be a requirement to remove the pack from the vehicle. If the pack forms a structural part of the vehicle, then this would increase disassembly times, making second-life repurposing a more expensive process.

However, if a remanufacturer were to hypothetically disassemble to celllevel to make use of the best-performing cells in their second-life battery, a cell-to-pack design (which is not cell-to-chassis) could decrease disassembly times and reduce remanufacturing costs, at the benefit of a better performing second-life system.

So it is unlikely that cell-to-pack designs are going away. If anything, the trend of greater vehicle integration will likely continue, thanks to the reduced manufacturing costs and higher energy density.

Recycling requirements are changing with the new Battery Regulation, this means that the design of battery cells needs to be considered writes James Edmondson, principal technology analyst at IDTechEx.

Cell-to-body or cellto-chassis takes this a step further, making the battery pack a structural component of the vehicles structure, again leading to greater integration and reducing the vehicle’s overall weight.

EUROBAT General Assembly

Madrid, June 6-7, 2023

Europe at the crossroads in mapping out energy future

Delegates to this year’s event heard from various speakers how Europe’s potential position as a major player in energy storage was at a critical juncture.

Mike Blakeney, head of government and public affairs at the Cobalt Institute, said the offer of $369 billion of tax credits from the US under this year’s Inflation Reduction Act was not being matched by anything comparable from the European Union.

“At the moment what’s on offer from us stands at about $3 billion,” he said. He warned that the next

18 months would be critical in persuading investors to come into Europe and that it was time to “unlock private capital… we need to incentivize investors through initiatives looking at insurance terms, export credits and guarantees, contracts for difference and more,” he said.

The theme was taken up by Luis Marquina, head of AEPIBAL, the Spanish energy storage association, who reckoned that European political, business and technical involvement needed to step up a gear.

“Now is the time for leadership in our industry,” he said. “And if it doesn’t come now, it’ll be too late. China already is at the forefront of innovation, we cannot be left behind.”

William Adams, head of battery and base metals research at Fastmarkets, said the question whether Europe had enough battery raw materials was complicated by the fact that Europe, China and the US will all rely on resources from the rest of the world. Competition between nations, businesses and industry sectors for supply will be a limiting factor in the near future.

He saw, however, the overall picture for European supply as improving over time. “In the future Europe will need to rely on imported concentrate for lithium,” he said.

“But it need not rely on imported processed material. Europe will see its mine supply grow and its processing capacity can grow at a faster pace, but it will rely on imports of raw materials or intermediates.

“In time, it can substitute mine supply with recycled material/battery scrap as the volume of end of life batteries picks up leading to a more circular economy.”

In his speech to delegates, EUROBAT president and CEO of Hoppecke Batterien, Marc Zoellner, emphasised the significance of Spain and the battery industry.

He said the battery sector played a crucial role in the country’s industrial landscape, contributing significantly to its economy and the EU’s ‘Green Deal’ objectives.

“Spain aims to become a leading player in battery manufacturing, driving the country’s competitiveness in the global clean energy market and positioning itself at the forefront of the energy transition.”

Meanwhile, there was a changing of the guard for EUROBAT as general manager Alfons Westgeest announced he was stepping down and Gert Meylemans, previously director of communications, would be taking over.

Westgeest had in fact tried to retire four years ago but came back, much to the industry’s delight. He continued to be a central figure in the Brussels-based group since his involvement in 2002 and is arguably the key creator of the present trade organization.

He is a well-known and well-liked figure in all sections of the European energy storage industry and said he had enjoyed his time with EUROBAT.

“It’s not just been fun to build up and strengthen the organization but we have achieved real success in helping influence the direction of battery regulation across the EU.”

Marc Zoellner, president of EUROBAT and CEO of Hoppecke Batteries, in a touching speech at the conference dinner, paid tribute to Westgeest’s relentless commitment to building up EUROBAT and its members.

“I will truly miss him and thank him for the wonderful work he has done,” he said.

Meylemans, who joined EUROBAT in August 2018, said he had a very tough act to follow but “hoped to continue to build on the great work Alfons has done”.

EUROBAT is a non-profit association under Belgian law and is staffed by association management company Kellen. Westgeest became Kellen Europe’s board member for global development in 2022.

Before EUROBAT, Westgeest was the founder and managing partner of Ernst & Young’s association management practice in 1988 in Brussels. He joined EY in 1981 and left the firm in 2004.

The next meetings will be held on June 4-5, 2024 in Brussels.

NEW BOARD MEMBERS

Lampros Bisalas, CEO of Sunlight Group Energy Storage Systems, and Fujio Owa, CEO of Fiamm Energy Technology, were appointed new members of the EUROBAT Board at the general assembly as Alfons Westgeest stepped down as general manager and Gert Meylemans took over.

EUROBAT said in a statement:

“We look forward to working with both gentlemen and to leverage their valuable experience to drive innovation, contribute technical expertise to the EU policy-making process and help craft a positive and consistent regulatory framework for the battery industry in the EU and beyond.”

The existing board members are: Andreas Bawart (Banner), CharlesLouis Ackermann (Accumalux), Dave Shaffer (EnerSys), Christian Rosenkranz (Clarios), Filippo Girardi (Midac), Frank Cecchi (Saft), Graeme Fraser-Bell (Entek), Marc Zoellner (Hoppecke) and Stefan Stübing (Exide).

EUROBAT president Marc Zoellner (right) presents a framed, silver-coated lead battery plate to Alfons Westgeest in thanks for his years of service.

New board member Fujio Owa

PB2023

Athens, June 21-23, 2023

Delegates pay homage to lead in shadow of the Parthenon

Gathering in the conference hotel in the shadow of the Parthenon, built on the Acropolis of Athens that was dedicated to the goddess Athena during the fifth century, one could not help ponder the analogy of a technology that has withstood the test of time.

The summer heatwave was in full force, but lead battery folk are made of sterner stuff and more than 200 took part in this year’s event.

Two workshops were held in advance of the conference proper, covering energy storage opportunities for the technology workplace exposure management (see panel).

Women in the Global Battery Industry reception held a pre-conference reception too.

There was a chance to drink in the sights of Athens from the rooftop of the conference hotel, set seemingly within touching distance of Athena’s temple.

But as always, there was serious work to be done too.

ILA managing director Andy Bush said the number of people attending reinforced the significant role the industry is playing supporting the many users of lead, including the battery industry.

“There is no doubt that we have a major role to play supporting worldwide efforts to decarbonize, as well as supporting products essential to the global economy and

people’s day-to-day lives.”

Presentations on the first day of the conference began with keynote speakers including the CEO of Greek lead battery manufacturer and recycler Lampros Bisalas, and Thea Soule, chief commercial officer of Ecobat.

Bisalas said expanding innovation in lead battery technology is key to the industry having a bright future for years to come.

He said Sunlight’s commitment to innovation included employing some 160 full-time researchers (60 for lead and 100 for lithium).

Bisalas said “lead acid technology is in my blood” — and he outlined his company’s recent global investments including plans to gradually double lead production at the firm’s Komotini plant in Greece from the current 50,000 tonnes annually.

Among other topics covered included updates on the global lead market as well as in-depth briefings on Chinese and Asian markets in particular, The impact of regulatory requirements in Europe and the US were also discussed.

However, ILA veteran employee and conference mastermind Maura McDermott probably stole the entire show as she was awarded the International lead medal marking 35 years of service to the industry ahead of her retirement. See our People News pages in this edition.

Conference also heard that European Commission officials are not expected to take immediate action to push through proposals for lead metal to be listed on an expanded chemicals authorization register in the near future (see full story in our news pages).

With the first full day of presentations, networking and debate complete, there was food for thought at the official conference dinner at a port-side restaurant where the evening breeze tempered the heat while delegates enjoyed traditional fare and music.

Some were even brave enough to show their moves on the dancefloor (but it would be indiscreet to say here who, and how well, they swept across the floor).

Amid a plethora of competing forecasts for the lead battery market in North America and Europe, Asia looks set to be the place to be for at least the coming decade.

Huw Roberts, director at CHR Metals, told the conference: “I expect that lead demand in the region will grow annually over the next five years by 750,000 tonnes — that’s a not-inconsiderable number!”

Roberts warned that the “silent whispers of the lithium industry still posed a threat to the future of the lead battery business but he believes that innovation and cost advantage will continue to offer new opportunities for growth, especially in Asia.”

Industry consultant Geoffrey May said EV charging back-up points could prove to be a new application for lead battery tech, which he said made economic sense, particularly in terms of buffering availability.

And while the lithium ion battery market is set to increase further, he said lead could play a key role in the burgeoning ESS and renewables market, referring to advances including Advanced Battery Concepts’ new-tomarket Box-Be bipolar lead energy storage system.

Presentations underlining the industry’s commitment to sustainability and responsible manufacturing and recycling practices dominated the final full day.

The ILA’s seventh workplace lead exposure management workshop was held a day ahead of the conference proper, with more than 60 delegates in attendance.

Co-sponsored by EUROBAT, the workshop was designed to support companies achieving the associations’ target of no employee exceeding a blood lead value of 20µg Pb/dL (20 micrograms per decilitre) by the end of 2025.

Speakers included Lucy Michalska, ILA’s regulatory and scientific affairs officer, who said the organization’s voluntary blood lead reduction programme now includes 46 sites involved in primary lead production or recycling — an increase from 32 sites in 2013 when the initiative was launched.

Participants are spread around the world now involving firms in China and India as well as Europe and North America including some 7,000 employees.

At the end of 2022, the average employee blood lead measurement among ILA members was 11.85 micrograms per decilitre, compared to 17 in 2013.

Michalska said about 13% of workers in the programme still have a blood lead above the ILA’s voluntary target of 20 micrograms per decilitre, demonstrating why it is a challenge to achieve the proposed new regulatory standards being discussed in Europe without a transition period and/or special consideration for workers whose blood lead values exceed the limit because of past, historically higher exposures.

The workshop also heard direct from companies on their experiences in reducing lead exposures from EHS professionals representing Clarios, Glencore and the Polish metal producer KGHM. Delegates also received practical solutions-based advice from engineering specialists Engitec and exposure control equipment suppliers Gore and 3M.

The next ILA conference is ELBC which will be held in September 2024 in Milan.

IFBF

Prague, Czech Republic, June 27-29, 2023

Buoyant industry all set to let the good times flow

Brimming with optimism would be how one could best describe the flow battery industry as the curtain went up for its annual gathering last year in Brussels. This year, ‘raring to go and uncompromising’ neatly sums up the mood of their get-together in Prague.

There was more than a spring in every delegate’s step, fresh from a flurry of flow battery news including the announcement by iron flow battery firm ESS that it would be building a 50MW/500MWh system in Germany.

Australia’s Redflow had not long secured a 20MW microgrid project for Northern California, while Invinity Energy Systems said just weeks earlier it was developing a 30MWh VRFB battery in the UK.

Another piece of good news was that flow battery technology will also now be included in the EU Battery Passport scheme.

And just six months before the conference, CellCube announced a deal to build a manufacturing and assembly line for its vanadium redox flow batteries in Australia.

All this news and more was regaled to delegates and IFBF secretary and secretary-general of Flow Batteries Europe (FBE), Anthony Price, who was rightly enthusiastic as he opened proceedings.

“Look at the growth in the sector — we have heard project reports from Asia, Europe, the Middle East and America that show how better batteries are meeting market needs,” he said.

According to a paper presented by FBE, some 8GW of flow batteries are forecast to be put into operation around the world by the end of the decade.

However, talking to Batteries International at networking and other events behind the scenes, many thought several other commercial initiatives will push that figure further.

Indeed, this year’s event received more than 40 papers, complementing the broad range of commercial, regulatory, policy and technical issues discussed during the conference.

Another key measure of the IFBF’s growing influence was the exhibition — this year more than a dozen stands representing battery makers,

materials and service providers to name but a few, all set out in a designated conference room of their own.

Poster presentations were there aplenty too, highlighting R&D that is going on behind the scenes.

But a related exciting innovation was the ‘Poster Speed Pitch’, introducing the industry’s next generation of potential flow battery innovators, who each had just 60 seconds to outline their R&D work on stage during the main conference and lobby delegates to visit their poster stand.

How flow batteries could be the future of powering the rebuilding of more challenging environments was underscored by the attendance of two representatives from Ukrainian company R.Flo.

Head of technology Yaroslav Kolosovskyi and CEO Andrii Bondar were made to feel especially welcome by delegates. The pair explained that their attendance was only possible thanks to being provided with safe passage out of their homeland by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Also looking to the future was the flow battery industry itself and some changes are already underway.

Patrick Clerens, managing director of Clerens NV, announced that his organization would take over the “heavy lifting” needed behind the scenes in running future IFBF events — but with industry champion Price remaining very much a key player in proceedings, as we report in our news pages elsewhere in this issue.

Price said the partnership would help to expand the breadth of coverage, networking and showcasing opportunities for the flow batteries sector.

IFBF now heads toward its 15th year and has a date in Scotland, thanks to an invitation by Invinity Energy Systems CEO Larry Zulch for IFBF to convene there in 2024 — and visit its flow battery facility in the country.

The company builds its cell stacks in Scotland, Vancouver and China.

Zulch had earlier unveiled Invinity’s next-generation VFB project, ‘Mistral’, suitable for large scale (+500MWh) wind, utility and solar installation projects based on the firm’s VS3 technology.

He also provided food for thought when he suggested it might be time to

drop ‘redox’ when talking about flow batteries in favour of only ‘vanadium flow batteries’, as the sector “enters the mainstream”.

However, a quick show of hands among the audience indicated mixed views.

The logistics of the Scotland trip will be announced in due course, but the conference was left in no doubt about Anthony Price’s preferred means of travel...

He told delegates that advances in the industry are such, they would be able to take a cruise in the not-toodistant future on a vessel powered by flow batteries.

Watch this space!

Chiari Van Cauter, PhD researcher at Membrane Technology Group, KU Leuven, congratulated on her poster award win by Patrick Clerens

Next stop Scotland 2024

Advanced Tech and Innovation shows, NEC, Birmingham, UK June 29-30, 2023

Four events in one. This was held in two giant halls at the UK’s National Exhibition Centre. These were The Advanced Materials Show, Ceramics UK, Battery Cells & Systems Expo and Vehicle Electrification Expo.

Innovative mix and match technology exhibition highlights the evolving cross-fertilization of related ideas

Not just a good event, but a truly interesting one. That was the concluding comment of one attendee at the launch of this the second year of these four co-located shows. The venue was the same as last year but the location within the National Exhibition Centre on the outskirt of Birmingham in England, was a prime spot: a few hundred metres from the main entrance into the largest conference centre in the UK.

The NEC is huge and this exhibition took full advantage of the space

available using two of the 20 interconnecting halls on this 182,000m³ venue.

The layout within the two halls is important. Each of the four conferences fitted (roughly) into one quarter of the overall space enabling visitors to stroll, for example, from one area, perhaps the vehicle electrification area seamlessly into a related subject area, such as that for battery cells and then into advanced materials.

The charm of the idea is this ability to wander. Nowadays one can’t

speak of just a single technical area without looking at the related technologies. In this it was cleverly put together. Too much of modern electrochemical advances are isolated from their context in terms of materials and engineering.

In each corner there was a stage with around 100 seats facing the speakers in which that subject theme of the conference was discussed and there was a constant succession of well known figures and lively panel discussions throughout both days of the exhibition.

“My favourite part of the show has been having all the different elements in the same place: advanced batteries, EVs, ceramics and the like,” said one delegate.

“It’s been really good to have those cross-fertilization discussions and linking up with people who we may not have had the opportunity to link up with if it had been a single industry-focused event.”

One of the underlying themes discussed was how the UK would fare in attracting gigafactory battery manufacturing given the huge tax subsidies offered by the US in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act.

Bob Galyen, the former CTO of CATL and also acknowledged as one of a small coterie of international lithium battery experts the IRA was going to provide huge benefits for US automanufacturers and battery makers.

“If you look at research from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence,” he said, “you’ll see that Tesla and its battery partner could receive $41 billion in government tax credits by the end of 2032 — that’s far more than its key Detroit rivals.

Battery Cells & Systems Expo is an international showcase of manufacturers, users and the entire supply chain working to increase battery performance, cost and safety. The show brings together automotive OEMs, electric utilities, battery cell manufacturers, system manufacturers and integrators along with the entire manufacturing supply chain.

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The rewards from the production credits that are part of the IRA are based on volumes of business so the more batteries and EVs a company makes in the US (or in countries included in the Treasury regulations), the more money it gets via tax credits. Tesla, which had started battery production in 2013 at its first gigafactory has put Tesla and Panasonic far ahead of their competition.

“It’s first mover advantage,” one UK attendee told Batteries International. “So those ahead of the game will stay ahead of it until 2030 when the credits taper off.”

Another attendee predicted (rightly it transpired) that Tesla would use the investment credits to cut the price of its cars. Already Tesla sells more of its EVs than the rest of the competitors in the sector combined.

Some of the technologies discussed by speakers at the show had the potential to be truly revolutionary.

Galyen’s talk also provided a fascinating insight as to the areas in lithium battery technologies which he regarded as being both cutting edge and soon to be mainstream. He was particularly enthusiastic about Titan AES which uses ultrasound technology for quality inspection and homogenous product manufacturing.

The next step forward in lithium battery recycling will come from Chromatopgraphic separation which could well be a leap ahead from solvent extraction.

The 2023 exhibition and four-track conference featured Andy Palmer, Inobat; Nusrat Ghani MP, UK government; Emanuel Eweka, AMTE Power; Neil Glover, Rolls Royce; Bhavika Ramrakhyani, Costain; Bob Galyen and many others.

Organizations featuring at the event included Thermo, Fisher Scientific, Goodfellow, Rigaku Europe, ABB Limited, Elysia – Battery Intelligence by WAE, Atlas Copco and many more.

Steve Bryan, managing director at the organizers, Event Partners, said: “We are absolutely delighted with the support we have seen for this event from the advanced technology and innovation industries. The technical battery, EV, advanced materials and ceramics industries in the UK are undergoing an unprecedented level of growth currently driven by both government and private investment.

“We were pleased to see major global organizations, start-ups and thought leaders together for two days of networking, collaboration and insight to help shape the next few years of these major industries.”

Exhibitor reaction to the show was positive: “the footfall has been good, there’s been a lot of interesting discussions and the speaker agenda has been excellent,” said one exhibitor.

The statistics were good and atten-

dance was up from 2022’s 3,100 to this year’s 3,800. In all there were some 260 exhibitors and 89 speakers.

The next Battery, Cells and Systems Expo and Vehicle Electrification Expo is on May 15-16, 2024 and will be co-located with The Advanced Materials Show and The Advanced Ceramics Show at the NEC, Birmingham UK.

Also, at this year’s Vehicle Electrification Expo, Atlas Copco’s stand featured a racing car in recognition of the company’s partnership with Red Bull Ford Powertrains, for the development of a new engine for 2026, which is being designed and manufactured at the team’s new facility in Milton Keynes.

Oslo Battery Days

August 21 – 22

Oslo, Norway

The 5th Oslo Battery Conference will meet to discuss and provide a platform for technological innovations and business opportunities with the latest updates in that fields in Norway and abroad.

For the 2023 event we will offer a beautiful Fjord cruise that includes dinner, networking and a view of the Oslo skyline on the classic Norwegian boat MS Nobel.

Contact Shmuel De-Leon Energy E: sigalit@sdle.co.il www.oslobatterydays.com

Shanghai International Lithium Battery Industry Fair — CNIBF

August 29 – 31

Shanghai, China

Shanghai International Lithium Battery Industry Fair will be held at Shanghai New International Expo Center, China. The exhibition of new energy vehicles, super capacitors, charging equipments and energy storage will all be held at the same time.

The show area is expected to reach 30,000 square meters, while more than 600 exhibitors from the whole industry chain will show their latest products and technology at the scene. Furthermore, over 100 visitor groups and 35,000 people are going to visit the site with a purpose to purchase or communicate, making sense to promoting industrial innovation and development.

With the help of China’s largest lithium battery fair, they will find more partners to actively explore the market or consolidate market advantages.

Contact Zhenwei Exhibition Group E: cnibf@zhenweiexpo.com www.cnibf.net

ees South America

August 29 – 31

São Paulo, Brazil

With three parallel energy exhibitions, The smarter E South America is LATAM’s innovation hub for the new energy world. It takes a comprehensive approach to the topics of the energy system transformation by presenting cross-sector energy solutions and technologies. The smarter E South America creates opportunities to address all key areas along the value chain. Focusing

SAVE THE DATE

8TH International Secondary Lead and Battery Recycling Conference — Recycle100

September 4–5

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Fourteen years ago, the first Secondary Lead Conference was held in Macau, China, bringing together all aspects of the lead-acid battery recycling and smelting industry. It has successfully brought the industry together to discuss, debate and learn.

Over that period, the battery recycling industry has continued to develop and now expanded into an exciting new phase, the recycling of lithium-ion batteries.

The conference will discuss the many technical and market aspects of the recycling industry of various battery chemistries. The conference’s overall themes will not change, as we will hear from some leading recycling, smelting and environmental speakers worldwide about the best methods for collecting, breaking, and recovering valuable elements.

Contact Conference Works — CW3 Events

E: events@conferenceworks.com.au www.recycle100.events

on the generation, storage, distribution and use of energy and the ways in which these aspects interact and can be intelligently combined, The smarter E South America brings together international stakeholders of the energy future from across the world’s most influential markets.

In addition to sector coupling and decentralization, digitalization is a central element of the new energy world. The growing demand for integrated and intelligently connected solutions means that companies are increasingly relying on these types of systems and services. The smarter E South America responds to this development, presenting solutions and technologies for an intelligent, sustainable and cost-effective energy supply.

Contact Solar Promotion GmbH

E: anna.kageneck@fwtm.de www.ees-southamerica.com/en/home

Intersolar Mexico

Mexico City, Mexico.

September 5 – 7

Intersolar Mexico serves as the industry’s go-to source for invaluable technology trends and premier B2B contacts in the promising Mexican solar market. It sits at the cross-section of photovoltaics, solar heating & cooling technologies, and energy storage.

Together, the two events will be the largest gathering of professionals in Mexico for international manufacturers and distributors looking to meet regional buyers in the fields of solar, renewable energy and cleantech.

More than 250 exhibitors and 13,000 visitors from over 35 countries are expected to participate in this year’s events.

Contact Solar Promotion International E: info@solarpromotion.com

https://www.intersolar.mx/organizers

Oslo, Norway

Mexico City, Mexico

20th Asian Battery Conference and Exhibition — 20ABC

September 5–8 • Siem Reap, Cambodia

considerable business developments and direct sales opportunities the conference provides.

military and telecommunications, and utility and renewable energy support sectors.

Explore the full spectrum of cuttingedge solutions you need to make faster, smarter, and more cost-effective products at the most comprehensive industry event in North America.

Contact Informa Markets

E: registration.ime@informa.com

www.thebatteryshow.com

The Asian Battery Conference has a long and proud history of bringing together the world’s leading battery industry C-level executives, marketers, technical staff and sales teams biennially to remain updated on new and emerging technologies, understand future directions, meet new suppliers, conduct business and network with industry peers.

An integral feature of the Asian Battery Conference is the exhibition. A true international opportunity, the exhibition sees the world’s major battery companies come together to showcase their capabilities and leverage off the

International Congress for Battery Recycling — ICBR

September 6 – 8

Valencia Spain

ICBR 2023 is the international platform for reviewing the challenges faced by the Battery Recycling Industry on a global basis.

For 28 consecutive years, ICBR has brought together the international community of experts and decision makers of the entire Battery Recycling value chain, including battery recyclers and manufacturers, collection organizations, OEM’s, policymakers, materials and services providers and many more.

Contact ICM AG

E: info@icm.ch

www.events.icm.ch/event/743ec9e5-df9d42e1-8e20-e13bafe7f6ed/summary

The Asian Battery Conference has seen tremendous growth since its inception in 1986, not only in terms of the size of the event but more importantly its ability to act as an educator and business development tool for all the worlds key battery industry executives.

The importance of the Asian Battery Conference to the global battery industry can be demonstrated by the success of the past four conferences.

Contact Conference Works — CW3 Events

E: events@conferenceworks.com.au www.asianbatteryconference.com

September 11 – 14

Anaheim, CA. USA

RE+ brings the modern energy industry together to foster a cleaner future for all. The largest and most comprehensive event in North America for the clean energy industry, RE+ is comprised of: Solar Power International (our flagship event) and Energy Storage International and brings together an extensive alliance of renewable energy leaders for multiple days of programming and networking opportunities.

Contact Solar Power Events

E: registration@re-plus.com https://www.re-plus.com

The Battery Show North America

September 12 – 14

Novi, MI. USA

The Battery Show connects you with more than 8,000 engineers and executives, and more than 600 leading suppliers across the advanced battery supply chain.

A powerful end-to-end showcase, this leading global industry event covers today’s emerging advanced battery technology for the automotive, portable electronics, medical technology,

World Energy Storage Day

September 22

Online

With Energy Storage rising to the forefront of industry developments, World Energy Storage Day is commemorated on 22nd September every year by various global industry stakeholders, policy makers, think tanks and associations to acknowledge its importance across the globe.

A rising focus on the effective integration of renewable energy, the importance of electric vehicle and reliable, resilient energy supply, energy storage is becoming an increasingly important tool in the electricity ecosystem.

Join global thought leaders driving green energy and clean transportation and let’s together commemorate the movement that can transform the planet.

Contact India Energy Storage Association

E: event@indiaesa.info

www.energystorageday.org

Battery Tech Expo Sweden

September 27 – 28

Gothenburg, Sweden

The Battery Tech Expo Nordic 2023 will bring together the latest technologies and services involved in the battery technology covering battery storage, battery management systems, fuel cell technology, lithium-ion batteries to name a few.

The event will welcome senior decision makers and users from across the power industry who share a professional interest in the technology and science of battery technology.

Held in Gothenburg, the hub of battery technology industry of Sweden, the event will provide a unique opportunity to showcase the latest technological products and services from within the industry.

Contact

10fourmedia

E: david.reeks@104-media.com

www.batterytechexpo.se

Valencia, Spain

Energy Storage Canada

October 3 – 4

Toronto, Canada

Energy Storage Canada (ESC) is the voice of leadership for energy storage and the only industry association in Canada that focuses on advancing opportunities and building the market for energy storage.

ESC has made energy storage a key focus for policy makers.

We educate stakeholders and drive awareness about the value that energy storage delivers. We work to create new competitive markets and ensure regulatory fairness. Our mission is to advance the energy storage industry in Canada through policy advocacy, collaboration, education, and research.

Energy Storage Canada works closely

with sector allies and with other energy storage stakeholders to push the industry forward.

Contact Energy Storage Canada

E: information@energystoragecanada.org www.energystoragecanada.org

The Battery Show India

October 4 – 6

Greater Noida, India

The Battery Show portfolio brings together engineers, business leaders, top industry companies, and innovative thinkers to discover ground-breaking products and create powerful solutions from across the globe.

From raw materials to components, find what you need to power your next project at the Battery Show India. The exhibition brings together more than 200+ brands showcasing the latest solutions across the transportation, stationary, portable and industrial sectors.

Contact Informa Markets

www.thebatteryshowindia.com

Energy Storage Global Conference — ESGC

October 10 – 12

Brussels, Belgium

ESGC 2023 will explore the extent to which energy storage can help avoid dependency on fossil fuels and will cover three main topics that represent the whole value chain of energy storage, offering great opportunities to industry, researchers, and policymakers to exchange views and debate key issues faced by the energy storage sector.

Contact European Association for Storage of Energy — EASE

E: info@ease-storage.eu

www.ease-storage.eu/easeevents/energystorage-global-conference/

Batteries Event

October 10 – 13

Lyon, France

The Batteries Event will cover aspects of the circular economy chain, starting from the production of the battery through raw materials, cell manufacturing, use and safety, management and applications, going through market trends, research and development, new technologies and finally closing the loop with a focus on recycling, second life and regulations.

International battery industry key players such as OEM, cell and pack manufacturers, end users, experts, researchers and recyclers will come together to discuss and exchange on new chemistries, manufacturing process, battery components, battery second life, recycling, regulation, future expectations and innovations.

Contact AVICENNE Energy www.batteriesevent.com

Fenibat

October 15 – 17

Londrina, Brazil

FENIBAT will gather in Londrina, Paraná, Brazil, from October 15 – 17, 2023 the Brazilian and Latin American battery and lead recycling industry and its suppliers. Its objective is to disseminate new products, services and technologies from all countries of the world to the South American market, as well as the exchange of information and knowledge.

Contact Fenibat

Jayme Gusmao, event director

E: gusmao@fenibat.com

www.fenibat.com

Battery Tech Expo, Prague

October 18

Prague, Czech Republic

Central Europe is rapidly emerging as a key location in the Battery Technology landscape. With a well-established and rapidly developing automotive industry, and a growing number of gigafactories both in operation and planned to come on-stream, the next few years will see a rapid expansion in battery production capacity in the region.

The Battery Tech Expo, Prague is perfectly located to showcase the Battery Technology supply chain in the Central Europe Hub — highlighting the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland, whilst remaining within easy reach of the German, French and Italian automotive centres of excellence.

Contact

10fourmedia

David Reeks, event director

E: david.reeks@104-media.com

www.batterytechexpocentraleurope.com

EV Battery Technology Conference and Exhibition

October 23 – 24

Long Beach, CA. USA

Battery technology is the future.

The world’s emerging appetite is for electric vehicles.

The automakers and companies for batteries are investing copiously to construct lighter, denser and affordable batteries.

The formation and assembling of the battery signify its performance and cost.

But for the future, wholly different chemistries and bigger breakthroughs are anticipating an emergence.

This is where our EV Battery Technology Conference and Exhibition is going to come in place and will provide you with an exclusive platform to divulge deeply into this subject. To let influential voices and key players from the EV industry speak about conviction. The conference will provide an exquisite opportunity for EV enthusiasts to behold all the latest and greatest the EV industry has to offer. From electric scooters to electric bikes to electric cars and buses, everything will be on a display to give you the best and a niche experience in the EV spectrum.

Contact MetaTech

E: info@metatechevents.com www.evbatterytechconference.com

Li-ion Battery Europe 2023

October 29 – 31

Budapest, Hungary

Li-ion Battery Europe 2023 is at the forefront of expediting the development of EV & Li-ion Battery in Europe, gathering policymakers, investors, manufacturers, raw material suppliers, component suppliers and technical service providers internationally to build partnerships. Highlights include:

• Build and expand your network with 800+ International C-level key players

• Get a complete overview of opportunities and challenges in optimising Li-ION projects

• Take part in over 15 hours of networking time with a unique crowd of financial and Li-ION stakeholders

• Join a dynamic, interactive event featuring brainstorming sessions, open space time, networking moments, and much more

• Pre-day VIP Salon and Field Trip Batteries International readers and subscribers are welcome to use the following promotional codes for a 10% discount:

Standard Ticket — LIBEBIS. Valid from July 1st – October 31st, 2023.

Contact Shanghai Metals Markets — SMM

E: Youngyang@metal.com www.li-ion-battery-europe-metal.com

Londrina, Brazil

Budapest, Hungary

Battery Safety Summit

November 6 – 7

Tysons Corner, VA. USA

The Annual Battery Safety Summit will bring together the key players from around the world to present the latest R&D advancements for integrating and implementing LIB safety to meet everincreasing energy demands.

With constantly increasing market demands for higher energy density cells globally, it is critical that advances in chemistry and engineering for next generation batteries have a significant focus on safety.

Accurate testing, modelling and battery management systems are critical for predicting and controlling the complex electrochemical, thermal, and mechanical behavior of LIBs.

Contact Cambridge Enertech

E: ce@cambridgeenertech.com www.cambridgeenertech.com/battery-safety

Battery Experts Forum

November 7 – 9

Darmstadt, Germany

The Battery Expert Forum is the largest battery conference in Europe. The forum offers an unparalleled platform for exchanging information on the latest developments in battery technology, presenting innovative products and services, and making valuable business contacts through renowned exhibitors, a comprehensive conference program and first-class trade visitors. In addition to the conference, there is also a trade exhibition where companies can showcase their latest products and services.

Contact Battery Experts Forum

E: info@battery-experts-forum.com www.battery-experts-forum.com

Battery Innovation Days

November 14 – 15

Bordeaux, France

Battery Innovation Days (BID) fosters dialogue among the research community, policymakers, industry players and end-users to boost battery research and innovation in Europe.

Batteries are crucial to the enabling of technology that will allow the EU to achieve its zeroemissions goals through a responsible and sustainable market. BID aims to increase knowledge and encourage exchange around the deployment of cutting-edge technologies in battery materials, cell design, manufacturing and recycling.

Join the event and you will be able to:

• Stay on top of the latest trends and technologies.

• Gain industry insights.

• Attend the Battery Young Research Award ceremony.

• Enjoy the networking opportunities and reception event with key stakeholders.

Contact CLERENS

E: info@batteryinnovationdays.eu www.accelevents.com/e/battery-innovationdays-2023

The Energy Management Exhibition

November 22 – 23

London, UK

EMEX is the UK’s must-attend energy event for everyone wanting to increase their organisation’s energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions. EMEX connects all commercial energy consumers with leading experts, policy makers and suppliers. EMEX is more than just an event. It’s a platform where practitioners and experts from various backgrounds and sectors are coming together to share their knowledge and experiences from successful implementations of energy efficiency strategies.

Contact Mark Allen Group

E: julia.pugh-cook@markallengroup.com www.emexlondon.com

SAVE THE DATE Future Battery Forum

November 27 – 28

Berlin, Germany + Online

The management conference brings together the entire value system of battery technologies: Across various industries more than 300 users, battery system and cell manufacturers and their suppliers will spend two days exchanging information, making new contacts and enriching each other.

Contact IPM AG

E: fbf@ipm.ag

www.futurebattery.eu

London EV Show

November 28 – 30

London, UK

The next edition of the London EV Show will once again bring the entire EV value chain under one roof to network with major industry players and identify numerous business opportunities in a hypercompetitive EV market.

The event aims to enable a large showcase of the new EV models & innovative solutions, a powerful speaker line-up and an enthused audience of policymakers, business leaders, investors, thought leaders and a wide range of end-users.

Featuring a massive exhibition space and highly-actionable conference agenda, London EV Show is a mustattend EV event of 2023 that will host 3 days of strategic deliberations, critical knowledge-sharing, quality business meetings and the latest product demonstrations.

Contact

Valiant Business Media

E: info@londonevshow.com

www.londonevshow.com

Darmstadt, Germany

Expo for Decarbonised Industries

November 28 – 30

Düsseldorf, Germany

All you need for climate-friendly, secure and economical energy supply in your company: The Expo for Decarbonized Industries > ENERGY STORAGE (decarbXpo) bundles the most comprehensive range of energy storage systems, solutions for decarbonization in industry and commerce, and a high-quality forum and conference program into one event.

Directly from the organizer of leading global industry trade shows. Supported by research institutes, sector and industry associations.

Contact Caroline Markowski, Messe Dusseldorf

E: markowskic@messe-duesseldorf.de www.decarbxpo.com

Global Automotive Components And Suppliers Expo

December 5 – 7

Messe Stuttgart, Germany

Global Automotive Components and Suppliers Expo is the only show in Europe dedicated to showcasing automotive components and component suppliers, making it the must attend event for all automotive OEM and Tier 1 procurement managers, component specifiers and engineers.

Contact UKi Media & Events

E: registration@ukimediaevents.com www.globalautomotivecomponentsandsuppliersexpo.com/en/

Advanced Automotive Battery Conference USA — AABC USA

December 11 – 14

San Diego, CA. USA

AABC was founded more than twenty years ago to review the status of automotive battery technology and provide informed glimpses into the future.

The 2023 program will uncover the underlying technical and business issues that will impact the pace and path of vehicle electrification worldwide.

Join us to network with chief battery technologists from leading automotive OEMs, who will share their development trends and projected battery needs, as well as their key suppliers who will present their latest offerings and roadmaps for the future.

Contact Cambridge Enertech

E: ce@cambridgeenertec.com www.advancedautobat.com/us

San Diego, CA. USA

Intersolar North America

January 17 – 19

San Diego, CA. USA

Intersolar North America and Energy Storage North America is the premier U.S.-based conference and trade show focused on solar, energy storage, and EV charging infrastructure.

Dedicated to accelerating the energy transition, the combined event delivers actionable education, invaluable networking, and an immersive exhibit hall experience – which includes the popular Solar Games installer competition.

Join 6,000+ energy leaders and 300+ exhibitors in Long Beach, CA, to help shape the next phase of our clean energy transformation.

Contact Diversified Communications

E: ISNAinfo@divcom.com www.intersolar.us

SAVE THE DATE The Smarter E India — ees India

January 17 – 19

Gujarat, India

The market potential for electrical energy storage in India is expected to be tremendous in the future – especially driven by incoming policies for the e-mobility industry.

With the great success and support of ees Europe, Europe’s largest exhibition for batteries and energy storage, ees India becomes the most powerful energy storage exhibition in India.

The exhibition is the industry hotspot for suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and users of stationary electrical energy storage solutions. Covering the entire value chain of innovative battery and energy storage technologies – from components and production to specific user applications.

Contact

Solar Promotion International

E: info@solarpromotion.com

www.thesmartere.in/en/ees-india

Gujarat, India

Be part of the Circular Economy Community

International Congress for Battery Recycling

September 6 – 8, Valencia, Spain

International Electronics Recycling Congress

January 17 – 19, Salzburg, Austria

International Automotive Recycling Congress

June 19 – 21, Antwerp, Belgium

Energy Storage Summit

February 21 – 22

London, UK

The Energy Storage Summit is renowned for its quality, breadth and expertise, featuring an all-encompassing range of strategic and technical sessions on the adoption and deployment of storage.

The Summit plays a pivotal role in the journey to propelling the industry into the next stage of its development, providing an unrivalled platform to develop the right partnerships and create business opportunities of all sizes.

Contact Solar Media

E: energystorage@solarmedia.co.uk www.storagesummit.solarenergyevents.com

The Distributed Energy Show

March 13 – 14

Telford, UK

The Distributed Energy Show is a free to attend exhibition and conference that will bring together the entire supply-chain focused on distributed energy resources and provide visitors with a comprehensive array of technologies and systems to enable them to generate, store, manage and distribute their own power and heat.

Contact Event Partners

E: lana.mercer@event-partners.com www.distributedenergyshow.com

Intersolar & ees Middle East

April 16 – 18

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Take your chance to join the most powerful platform in the MENA region Middle East Energy (MEE), Intersolar, and ees, the leading energy exhibitions are joining hands to co-deliver an outstanding renewables and energy storage event at Middle East Energy. Renewables and energy storage at MEE is the largest gathering of solar and renewable energy industry professionals in the Middle East & Africa, offering the most effective trade focused platform to international manufacturers and distributors looking to meet regional buyers.

Contact Solar Promotion International E: stunz@solarpromotion.com www.intersolar.ae/home

World Future Energy Summit

April 16 – 18

Abu Dhabi, UAE

WFES (World Future Energy Summit) is a global industry platform connecting business and innovation in energy, clean technology and efficiency for a sustainable future.

WFES Expo hosts over 850 exhibiting companies from more than 40 countries; The Future Summit; the unique WFES Forums, covering everything from disruptive technologies to future cities; a set of ground-breaking WFES Initiatives; and WFES Hosted Events, where individual growth markets come under the spotlight.

Contact RX Global

E: worldfuturenergysummit@rxglobal.com

www.worldfutureenergysummit.com

Battery Tech Expo

April 25

Silverstone, UK

The Battery industry is on the cusp of a power revolution with big technology companies investing heavily in the next generation of battery development and energy storage.

The Battery Tech Expo will provide a unique opportunity to showcase the latest products, technologies and services covering the Battery Management Systems, EV Battery, Battery Storage, Battery Development/ Discovery, Commercial and Mobile Power Device sectors.

Contact 10fourmedia

David Reeks

E: david.reeks@10fourmedia.co.uk

www.batterytechexpo.co.uk

Abu Dhabi, UAE

Gujarat, India

Silverstone: Venue for Battery Tech Expo and home of British motor racing

www.ees-events.com

ENERGY STORAGE EVENTS

—

The Leading Exhibition Series for Batteries and Energy Storage Systems

■ AUGUST 29–31, 2023, SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL SOUTH AMERICA’S HOT SPOT FOR BATTERIES AND ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS www.ees-southamerica.com

■ JANUARY 17–19, 2024, GANDHINAGAR, INDIA INDIA‘S LEADING ELECTRICAL ENERGY STORAGE EXHIBITION www.ees-india.in

■ APRIL 16–18, 2024, DUBAI, UAE THE LEADING SOLAR AND ENERGY STORGAE EVENT IN THE MIDDLE EAST www.intersolar.ae

■ JUNE 19–21, 2024, MUNICH, GERMANY EUROPE’S LARGEST EXHIBITION FOR BATTERIES AND ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS www.ees-europe.com

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The last word Missing

in action

A much-respected, muchdecorated battery veteran — one of the so-called Warsaw Few (survivors of the 2008 ELBC evening gala) — was conspicuous by his absence at the Pb23 event held in Athens this summer.

“We didn’t know what to do with our lanyards at the conference close,” moaned one delegate. “Shame the ILA couldn’t be bothered to provide someone to recycle these.”

Big brother is watching you!

Not something you expect every day. But as one speaker sat down to applause at a recent conference, we couldn’t help notice — he was sitting just in front of us — that he immediately opened his laptop and a startling selection of pictures of beautiful ladies appeared.

“We first thought that he was looking at rude pictures but when we saw him swipe one way and then swipe the next — we breathed a sigh of relief.

“He was just planning a catch-up on Tinder.”

ABC has solved the thorny issue of giving out conference bags or not. At ELBC last year no delegates’ bags were given out — budget reasons — and a generation of children lost their school satchels for that year.

But here is one admirable 20ABC solution.

The conference is partnering with HUSK — a charitable organization that helps thousands of people living in poverty — to start designing and sewing the related conference bags and gifts.

The conference organizers said: “We hear HUSK is delighted with the large order, and first payment has been made — it’ll go a long way to support each of the families’ weekly expenses.”

The Poitou is noted for its large size and the ears of some individuals are so large that they are carried horizontal Their coat is longer and softer than other breeds. When ungroomed, it will often retain the long hair of its youth which becomes matted and tangled, growing down into a great coat.

And a warm welcome to the Poitou, the newest recruit to our investigative reporting donkey team.

ABC and HUSK: conference bags with a difference