Battery Update

In recent months, there have been repeated reports of low sales figures for electric cars and redundancies at car manufacturers due to underutilized production lines. The following analysis provides an overview of the current situation on the vehicle market in Germany and Europe.

The recycling of lithium-ion batteries (LIB) will play a central role for Europe in the future. Both expansion projects and announcements of new recycling plants can currently be observed. This blog post is an update of an article from July 2023 and looks at the latest developments.

As the battery industry continues to expand, the need for specialized training and upskilling becomes imperative. In this article, we will explore the different groups within the industry that require vocational training and examine the suitability of pure online trainings. The European Battery Business (EBBC) addresses these needs by providing cutting-edge battery knowledge with industry insights, delivered through innovative micro-learning elements. This ensures self-directed learning and the possibility to educate a high number of personnel at the same time. Does the format and the content of the EBBC fit to the training needs of the growing European battery technology industry?

Solid-state batteries (SSBs) have gained in importance in recent years and almost all well-known OEMs mention the technology on their development roadmaps, sometimes with quite specific dates for their implementation. But have SSBs already reached the necessary technological maturity for introduction in the automotive market? Alongside the manufacturers' commercialization announcements, there are still reports from research and development that suggest that there are still major challenges on the road to mass production.

The growing global demand for batteries is currently covered for the largest part by lithium-ion batteries. However, alternative battery technologies are increasingly coming into focus due to geopolitical dependencies and resource availability. What alternatives to lithium-ion batteries can meet the growing demand, ease the raw material situation and reduce geopolitical dependencies? How can supply chains be established in such a way that a resilient and technologically sovereign battery ecosystem can be created in Europe? And what about sodium-ion batteries, already used in electric vehicles in Asia?

Solid-state batteries are regarded as a promising further development of lithium-ion batteries. Different materials are available for the various components. Which ones could be successfully commercialized in (hybrid) cell concepts in the future?

From raw material production for batteries to the battery market itself through to recycling, a new webtool shows relevant data from the entire battery industry.

Prices for key battery raw materials have been subject to enormous fluctuations over the past two years, putting an end, at least temporarily, to the trend of falling battery cell costs. In its Battery Update, Fraunhofer ISI points out which role the design of supply contracts plays in pricing and how the changes in raw material prices affect the costs of different lithium-ion battery technologies.

The need for recycling capacity for lithium-ion batteries is growing. How Europe will meet it - and which companies are investing at which locations.

The cathode is a central component of a lithium-ion battery cell and significantly influences its cost, energy density, i.e. relative storage capacity, and safety. Two materials currently dominate the choice of cathode active materials for lithium-ion batteries: lithium iron phosphate (LFP), which is relatively inexpensive, and nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) or nickel-cobalt-alumina (NCA), which are convincing on the market due to their higher energy density, i.e. their ability to store electrical energy. Our analysis shows where in the world how much of which cathode material will be used in battery production and by when.