Battery Update by Fraunhofer ISI

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.

Tesla is giving the go-ahead for a new cylindrical cell format, setting a trend that is also being picked up by other cell manufacturers and vehicle manufacturers.

The "BetterBat" research project has released an open-source database of over 300 lithium-ion battery cells from various manufacturers, with continuous updates. It allows industry and research institutions to benchmark battery cells and determine their suitability for various applications.

It is well known that a large part of battery cell production takes place in Asia, more precisely in China, Korea and Japan. However, it is often overlooked that this market dominance is even more pronounced in the prefabricated production steps of battery manufacturing. More than 90 percent of the main starting materials of a battery cell (i.e. anode, cathode, separator and electrolyte) come from these three countries.

Currently, about 50 kilotons of spent batteries are recycled annually in Europe. The quantity of batteries to be recycled will increase continuously in the coming years - and the origin of these batteries will also change.

In recent years, a large number of battery cell factories have been announced in Europe and the momentum is still not slowing down. Just recently, new plans by two Chinese cell manufacturers (CALB in Portugal and CATL in Hungary) have increased the total maximum cell production capacity announced in Europe - i.e. the total capacity of battery cells that would be produced if all the announced factories were built on the announced schedule and operated at maximum capacity - to up to 1.7 TWh by 2030.

The Fraunhofer Institutes ICT, IPA, ISI and the Fraunhofer research institution FFB have presented a study on the development of lithium-ion battery cell formats. It looks at the most important trends in battery chemistry, cell formats, cell production and safety and compares them with the requirements of various battery applications. Special attention is paid to the announcements of the automotive manufacturers, e.g. on large-format cells.

The global sales figures on the electric car market are clearly developing in one direction: upward. An analysis of the individual models and countries shows differences. In addition, a forecast for 2022 is already possible.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI launches its Battery Update: a new blog format in which scientists present core results from their current battery research. In addition, the blog serves as a platform where current topics around the battery supply chain are accompanied and discussed.