Batteries International — Issue 124, Summer by hamptonhalls

Lithium pack hikes set to stall EV 'clean revolution' Hoppecke's Zoellner: the EU may yet learn to love lead Bringing the industry together www.batteriesinternational.comTHELASTWORD:TALESFROMTHEDARKSIDE European lead smelter deal about to have global impact Commodity price rises to hit all battery chemistries Clear and present danger New threat to lead emerges as next gen flow battery economics stack up Issue 124 Summer 2022

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Allianz warns of EV batteries risk to safe shipping • Batteries insurance warranty scheme launched • Europe trails US, China in ESS growth, study reveals • EASE urges 14GW p/year ramp-up of energy storage for renewables • EU nations urged to fast-track storage and cut red tape TotalEnergies commissions second BESS in French deal • Grid connection green light for Australian BESS • Britishvolt acquires EAS, agrees Bühler tech deal

Time

63 CellCube

New threat to lead emerges as economics of flow batteries stack up 51

ESS

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54 Keeping

Lead batteries have always held the high ground over lithium in terms of long duration storage but flow batteries are increasingly looking as a potential business contender. It’s time for some manufacturers to get worried. Very worried. Redox flow batteries — with their high up-front costs but lower running expenses — may be more financially viable than expected. That said the price of the electrolyte is still a sticky point.

Meanwhile, US-headquartered iron flow battery storage company ESS intends to establish a commercial foothold in Europe and Asia too. for deeper re-assessment of the levelized cost of RFB storage the price of vanadium down — and steady too 56 targets expansion in Europe and beyond 61 battery news round-up readies ‘gigawatt-sized VRFB pipeline’ for Southern Africa • China connects first phase of 200MW flow battery to grid • Invinity agrees vanadium storage deal with Hyosung Corporation CellCube VRFB chosen for US microgrid project Analysis: Smelter deal impact 46

Flow

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CONTENTS 2 • Batteries International • Summer 2022 www.batteriesinternational.com COVER STORY: CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER 51 Battery shipping warning 32 Biplate line partnership 14 Pyatt honoured 11 Commendation for O’Brien 11 EDITORIAL 6 The EV revolution that stalled PEOPLE NEWS 10 Hammond welcomes Bisaillon as Goodearl moves on • Stevenson named new Alpha/Beta member • Former Doe Run CEO Pyatt honoured • Pam O’Brien commended by BCI for dedication • Microporous appoints Bruno as sales and marketing VP • Lambert plans Wirtz retirement • Lucas Sadler moves to Energy Vault from Fluence • CBE honour for spectroscopy pioneer Grey • Electrovaya appoints Raj Das Gupta as CEO NEWS 14 Gridtential to develop pilot biplate line with Hammond and Wirtz • ABC, Monbat unveil bipolar mass production plans • Industry steps up calls to drop ‘lithium hazard’ classification • Monbat managers acquire shares to secure near 21% group stake • Ecobat silent on Stolberg future after sale to Trafigura Group • BCI calls for new standards for battery labels • Campine acquires Recyclex for €3.5m • ACE Green Recyling to produce US lead in 2023 says VP Ahmed • Banks in loans boost for Sunlight’s expansion plans • Metair expects strong lead sales despite Turkish economy woes • Pruitt reveals rise in BCI members’ battery sales • Remy Battery acquires ‘friendly family-run rival’ Challenger • Volt Resources $2m share placement plans for graphite restart in Ukraine • Battery industry leaders join forces to protect children • ILA to support Basel review of lead battery recycling standards • Lead industry welcomes Ghana action on batteries stewardship • GS Yuasa expands battery line • Exide Industries reveals site for ‘multi-gigawatt’ Li cells plant • Recycler Gravita invests in solar • Lawmakers praise Stryten Energy for support of US energy policy • Clarios, Natron Energy to team up for ‘world first’ in sodium ion production • ELBC to host second CBI Battery Academy seminar in Lyon • Amara Raja pledges ‘fast track’ for lithium project as firm joins CBI • Vernon clean-up saga enters next phase • EnerSys reports boost in annual sales • Banner marks 85 years in batteries business • New Italy AGM line for Ahlstrom-Munksjö ENERGY STORAGE NEWS 32

Find out more! Call Us: +39 0872 57724/5 Via Pedemontana 13, 66022 Fossacesia (CH) - ITALY Email : Web:cam@cam-srl.comwww.cam-srl.com Oxide production without a melting pot, cylinder caster, exhaust chimneys, or gas burners provides significant energy savings with the CAM Lead Shaving System. Plus, our cold milling sy stem avoids the mechanical stress of other processing systems. The Lead Shaver, comprising the use of lead shavings as feed material for ball mills was patented in 2004. The Lead Shaving system is composed of: CAM LEAD SHAVER TO PRODUCES WITHOUT CYLINDER CASTING OXIDE WITHOUT CASTING Heavy-Duty Italian Battery Equipment A ZERO-EMISSIONS SOLUTION FROM CAM SHAVE DOWN YOUR OXIDE PRODUCTION COSTS Inclined lead shavings conveyor Lead shaver Lead ingot conveyor with automatic tipping system 3D modelling from CAM R&D Department

CONTENTS www.batteriesinternational.com Batteries International • Summer 2022 • 5 ENERGY STORAGE NEWS 32 CATL joins winners of EES awards in Germany • New CellCube unit in US targets VRFB business • Powin BESS system earmarked for Idaho Power project • California Li-tax law triggers battery materials supply alert • Energy Vault starts work on China gravity-based ESS • Freyr signs site lease deal for battery cells production in Finland • Umicore launches Korea R&D plant for cathode materials • Canadian Solar enters UK utility-scale ESS market • Miba acquires majority Voltlabor stake LEAD PRICE ANALYSIS: CRU 46 European smelter deal set to have global impacts INTERVIEW 65 Marc Zoellner, CEO of Hoppecke, explains why the EU may be learning to love lead LITHIUM: THE SHORTAGES AHEAD 70 The International Energy Agency warns price increases in lithium are inevitable. Recycling will be essential but in the longer term it’s mining that’s needed. INTERVIEW 76 Wang Weidong, Beijing’s envoy to Germany, explains how China’s battery tigers are helping EVENT REVIEWS 80 EUROBAT Forum & Annual Convention, Brussels, Belgium 80 Advanced Tech & Innovation Shows, Birmingham, UK 82 EVENTS 84 Our complete listing of the battery and energy storage exhibitions, conferences and shows for the months ahead BATTERY HEROES: LECLANCHÉ 91 Georges Leclanché should be remembered for his invention of the first modern electrical batteries and forerunner of the modern dry cell battery. THE LAST WORD 96 More tales of battery darkness: CBI and the exotic princesses • Won’t get fooled again! It’s Milan • New electrolyte discovered at flow battery forum • Ukraine engineer battles to Europe Publisher Karen +44karen@batteriesinternational.comHampton7792852337 Editor Michael +44editor@batteriesinternational.comHalls7977016918 Advertising director Jade jade@batteriesinternational.comBeevor Deputy editor John john@batteriesinternational.comShepherd Contributing editor Frank Millard Researcher, journalist Hillary hillary@batteriesinternational.comChristie Finance administrator Juanita juanita@batteriesinternational.comAnderson Subscriptions, enquiries admin@batteriesinternational.comsubscriptions@batteriesinternational.com Production/design Antony aparselledesign@me.comParselle International advertising representation advertising@batteriesinternational.com The contents of this publication are protected by copyright. No unauthorized translation or reproduction is permitted. ISSN 1462-6322 © 2022 Mustard Seed Publishing UK company no: 5976361. Printed in the UK via Method Disclaimer: Although we believe in the accuracy and completeness of the information contained in this magazine, Mustard Seed Publishing makes no warranties or representation about this. Nor should anything contained within it be construed as constituting an offer to buy or sell securities, or constitute advice in relation to the buying or selling of investments. China view on batteries 76 Last Word: going undercover 96 Hoppecke CEO on EU and lead 65 Charting lithium shortages 70 Event review: Advanced Tech 82

Premise number 2: EV adoption rates will rapidly climb once phase-out dates for manufacturing ICE cars come in. This is meant to be a corollary of the first. Unfortunately, it is equally flawed.

One British analyst recently said that in the UK, where the sale of new ICE cars will be discontinued by 2030 and hybrid vehicles by 2035, the second-hand car market will receive a huge and unexpected boost in the run-up to the end of the decade. “At the top tier of the market,” he said, “there is marginal price sensitivity over high-end cars. But when you come to the family saloon level and below, price increases of as little as a couple of thousand pounds will affect buyer decisions.

Affordability is key.”

A similar picture is seen in the US where first quarter 2022 sales of fully-electric vehicles reached 5% market share for the first time. However, of the nearly half a million EVs sold in America last year, roughly 70% were Teslas.

This appears to be one of the major worries of its carmakers. “At the end of the day,” one consultant told Batteries International at BCI this May, “our nation’s automakers just want to sell cars. That’s what they do. They’re not politicians (or they shouldn’t be!)

In 2021 Bloomberg New Energy Finance analysts warned that the higher costs of raw materials could push the average price of a lithium-ion battery pack up to $135/kWh. But that was before the supply chain problems around the world kicked off after the pandemic and, now the energy crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. During the first quarter of 2022, the average cost of lithium ion battery cells shot up to $160/ kWh. One recent study estimated that this year, between March and June, global cell prices have risen by 20%-30%. S&P Global Mobility predicts it could cost car manufacturers up to $8,000 more to make an EV battery pack by the end of 2022. Part of the first premise: cheaper batteries mean cheaper cars: consumers will vote with their feet is now the Moreopposite.expensive batteries means dearer cars: consumers, already concerned that EVs are still more expensive than their ICE counterparts, will vote with their feet — in the other direction.

S&P Global Mobility predicts it could cost car manufacturers up to $8,000 more to make an EV battery pack by the end of

The reality is that for most middle-class Americans EVs are still too high to be practical — and look set to stay that way.

EDITORIAL2022. 6 • Batteries International • Summer 2022 www.batteriesinternational.com

What if many of the assumptions people have made about the so-called EV revolution are based on false premises? Let’s go through two of them.

The falling cost of lithium batteries has been one of the core principles behind the belief that EVs will overtake internal combustion vehicles. There was good reason to think this realistic: from 2010 to 2020, the price of lithium ion battery packs fell by almost 90%. The average price of a lithium ion battery pack stood at an eye-watering $1,200/kWh in 2010. In 2020 it was around $105/kWh. But that’s taken a huge hit in the past year.

The revolution that stalled (or may just be about to)

Mike Halls • editor@batteriesinternational.com

Premise number 1: the price of lithium batteries will continue to fall until they are below the price of lead ones. This will underpin the EV revolution — cheaper batteries mean cheaper cars: consumers will vote with their feet.

Mike Halls, Editor

The consultant added that CEOs had been actively lobbying the federal and state governments for the last few years to slow down the pace of change.

Oddly enough another figure at the BCI conference said that there was mounting opposition — but behind the scenes— by electric utilities to the decarbonization of the vehicle sector. “They’re not anti-environmental in the slightest — most are embracing the low-cost renewable energy being generated by renewables. They’re just worried about having to ramp production up by as much as a factor of five in the next seven years and beyond. “Any transition to EVs looks set to be bumpy to say the least.”

“Moreover, their enthusiasm for electrification of the nation’s fleet is decidedly lacklustre. They’re having to respond to legislative pressure on CO2 tailpipe emissions and state strictures on what cars we should be driving in a few years’ time.”

EDITORIAL www.batteriesinternational.com Batteries International • Summer 2022 • 7

“They’re worried and acutely conscious of the disincentives that they see coming from the price hikes that they will have to impose on new vehicles — many of which have still yet to see the manufacturing line. More expensive battery packs are just bad news for them.

And they may have to. This year 12 states have announced that they are seeking to set a target date for the nationwide phase-out of ICE car sales. California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington are all pushing for a nationwide ban of gasoline and diesel-powered light-duty vehicles starting in 2035.

In the free-for-all that characterises state governments and individual cities in the US, there is even talk that California’s ICE ban will be accelerated to 2030 and, irrespective of that, the cities of Oakland, Culver City and Berkeley are already targeting a 2030 deadline. Additionally, the premise that cheaper EV batteries are inevitable in the long run is flawed — at least for this coming generation. The shift away from fossil fuels to renewables has meant that global demand for raw battery materials — namely nickel, lithium, copper, and cobalt — will be increasing rather than otherwise.

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An awards ceremony honouring Stevenson will take place at the ELBC congress in Lyon, France in September.

Hammond president and CEO Terry Murphy said Bisaillon, whose expertise spans power generation and energy storage in both the lead acid and lithi um ion segments, would “strengthen relationships with our existing custom ers and develop new rela tionships with customers in emerging markets”. Bisaillon said: “Advanced lead batteries, incorporat ing Hammond’s perfor mance additives, along with many other signifi cant changes in battery configurations, have dra matically improved charge acceptance and cycle life. “The new generation of advanced lead batteries that are being manufac tured by our customers offer a more sensible and sustainable alternative to expensive, complex and difficult to integrate lith ium-ion systems for the rapid expansion in the mo tive power, telecom, and energy storage sectors.”

The Alpha/Beta Society, an informal group of members who have made outstanding contributions to the development of the lead acid bat tery industry, has appointed Mark Stevenson as its 29th member, ac cording to Juergen Garche, speaking at the AABC meetings in Mainz in June.“Mark has had a long and highly impressive career spanning four decades of work in secondary lead — he is a world-leading expert in his field — and we are pleased that his achievements should be recognized.” heMarksaid. Stevenson, who is also the prime mover behind the Asian Bat tery Conference, is a well-known and well-liked figure in the battery industry with some four decades of experience. In an industry more focused on the manufacture of lead batteries, his expertise has been their successful destruction and recycling. “I very much appreciate the hon our that the Alpha Beta members have bestowed on me,” said Steven son. “This society has a huge and global range of expertise; it would be wonderful if we could pass the baton of their knowledge on to the next generation and mould this into a lead and battery college for the future.”David Rand said: “As the cofounder of the Alpha-Beta Society, I am delighted to receive the very good news that Mark Stevenson has been inducted into this prestigious fraternity. Without doubt, Mark is an unrivalled expert in the metal lurgy of lead and its use in lead-acid batteries. In addition, over the years, he has been the power behind the outstanding success of the Asian Battery Conference. “I am sure that Mark will make sure that the Society will be a much -required resource in the future.” The Alpha-Beta Society was cofounded by Ernst Voss (Varta) and David Rand (CSIRO) in 1989. The object was for lead battery scientists to collaborate in grappling with the ever-emerging demands that new applications place upon the science of lead batteries.

Bisaillon, who most re cently held positions with American Battery Solu tions, Nokian Heavy Tyres and Trojan Battery Com pany, will lead Hammond’s efforts to support global battery manufacturers in producing a new genera tion of advanced lead bat teries, the firm said. Goodearl is a well-known and popular figure in the power battery energy sys tems industry having spent most of his working life in the business. He joined Hammond three years ago from NorthStar Battery where he was a director of national accounts. Before that he was international vice president for sales and marketing at Superior Bat tery.Goodearl said: “I’m very thankful for the time I had at Hammond, the entire team was amazing to work with and we did great things for our customers.”

Mark Stevenson Stevenson named new Alpha/Beta member

Hammond welcomes Bisaillon as Goodearl moves on

Goodearl will continue to be an active member of the Data Book, Technical, and Product Information Committees within Battery Council International as will his work on the StartStop and Starter Battery Committees within SAE. In October 2021, Ham mond named its new award-winning acid strati fication reducing, battery life extending additive GravityGuard, after win ning the BCI Innovation Award a month earlier.

Brad Bisaillon has been appointed as vice presi dent of sales for the Ham mond Group, the company announced on June 14. Meanwhile, Ray Goodearl has left as director of mar keting and global accounts to become vice president of strategic accounts at Indic Group Holdings.

PEOPLE NEWS 10 • Batteries International • Summer 2022 www.batteriesinternational.com

Former president and CEO of The Doe Run Company, Jerry Pyatt, has been hon oured with a professional distinction award by the Missouri University of Sci ence & Technology, the firm announced on May 16. Pyatt, who retired at the end of last December after a 43-year career in mining and metallurgy, was ap pointed as Doe Run COO in 2001, before becoming president and CEO in 2012. In his decade as head of the company, Pyatt over saw an operation that contributed more than $1 billion in annual economic impact to Missouri and in cluded mining and milling, lead refining, alloying and fabrication and lead battery recycling, Doe Run said. Missouri S&T grants a limited number of profes sional distinction awards annually to recognize those who have made important contributions to their pro fession. Pyatt was nomi nated by the university’s department chair of mining and explosives engineering, Kwame Awuah-Offei and the award was presented by chancellor Mohammad Dehghani.Dehghani said: “Doe Run understands the impor tance of educating the next generation of the work force and has supported our students and faculty by providing state-of-the-art mining equipment and scholarships through the years.”

From left Jerry Pyatt Chancellor Mo Dehghani and John Komlos.

PEOPLE NEWS www.batteriesinternational.com Batteries International • Summer 2022 • 11

Battery Council Interna tional surprised a member of its top leadership team — Pam O’Brien — with an honour on May 1, in rec ognition of her “exemplary commitment and dedica tion”.O’Brien, BCI’s senior vice president of operations, was publicly commended for her work at a special directors’ meeting, on the eve of the trade body’s an nual convention in Florida. BCI president Chris Pruitt praised her work in supporting efforts to estab lish Women in the Global Battery Industry (WGBI) — an organization of professionals, founded to promote and develop the growth of women in the battery industry. Pruitt said: “Her com mitment to this program has exceeded that asked of her and demonstrates Pam’s full and complete dedication and passion to the industry as a whole, and to the industry’s goal of supporting the careers of women in the battery in dustry and STEM careers.”

Microporous appoints Bruno as sales and marketing VP

WGBI president and chair of MAC Engineer ing, Julie McClure, who is a member of BCI’s board, proposed the commenda tion motion for O’Brien, who serves as WGBI’s di rector.“Over the past year, Pam has moved mountains to take the WGBI from a con cept presented to the BCI board by a small group of BCI members and staff to a fully-fledged and function al networking and profes sional collaboration group of industry women,” Mc Clure said. On May 2, McClure re vealed details of the newlyformed WGBI, which was launched in January. McClure said WGBI had grown to include 168 pro fessional members and sev en academic members. Of these, 75 participated in the organization’s first we binar, featuring a presenta tion from Nancy Martin of NRM Consulting on ca reer development.

Former Doe Run CEO Pyatt honoured Pam O’Brien commended by BCI for dedication

Photo courtesy Michael Pierce Missouri S&T Chris Pruitt surprises Pam O'Brien with WGBI recognition award

Separator company Microporous announced the appointment of Rick Bruno as vice president of sales and marketing as of May 1. The company said Bruno, who reports to CEO John Reeves, joins Microporous with more than 30 years of experience in general management and business development.Brunowasvice president of sales and marketing for the past eight years at Tuffaloy Products in South Carolina. He has also worked with Hollingsworth & Vose and Fiberweb.

Doug Lambert, Vice Presi dent of Sales and Technol ogy for Wirtz Manufac turing, has confirmed the LinkedIn announcement earlier in July that he is planning to retire “in the next six to nine months”.

Chief product officer for Energy Vault, Marco Ter ruzzin, said: “Lucas’ onthe-ground experience in the renewable energy and energy storage sectors in Australia further strength ens our relationships and reach in APAC, where large energy and mining compa nies have committed to de carbonization.”BeforeFluence, Sadler held senior sales, business development and manage ment roles with companies such as Schneider Electric andSadlerSamsung.hasalso worked as a director and board mem ber of the Australian Solar Council and the Australian Energy Storage Council. Energy Vault announced on May 5 that it had bro ken ground on its first grav ity-based energy storage system in China — the 100MWh ‘EVx’ being built near Shanghai.

Electrovaya announced the appointment of Raj Das Gupta as CEO of the On tario-headquartered com pany on May 24. Das Gupta, who has been a member of the lithium ion battery maker’s man agement team since 2009, succeeds Electrovaya cofounder and chairman Sankar Das Gupta) who be comes executive chairman. “I am delighted to an nounce the appointment of Raj as CEO,” Sankar Das Gupta said. “Raj is the ideal person to build shareholder value from our superior lithium ion battery technol ogy.”Electrovaya said Raj Das Gupta had been instrumen tal in developing the com pany’s “most critical tech nology and business relationships”, including its forklift battery systems and OEM partnerships.

Energy Vault Holdings said on May 26 that it had ap pointed former Fluence ex ecutive, Lucas Sadler, as VP of sales and business devel opment for Asia and the Pa cific.Sadler was most recently VP of sales for Australia and New Zealand for US-based battery storage firm Fluence. Energy Vault said Sadler and his team will focus on building upon the company’s existing presence in the re gion.

Electrovaya appoints Raj Das Gupta as CEO CBE honour pioneerspectroscopyforGrey Raj Das Gupta

Lambert plans Wirtz retirement

Lambert has worked for Wirtz since 2011. Before that he spent 12 years as an independent lead battery consultant.

Leading battery scientist Clare Grey was awarded with the title of Com mander of the Order of the British Empire in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours in recognition of her services to science. Professor Grey, from the Yusuf Hamied Depart ment of Chemistry and Pembroke College, pio neered the optimization of lithium batteries with the help of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Grey has to a large extent created, by her own contributions, a flourish ing new field of NMR with a great potential for future beneficial discover ies and NMRapplications.spectroscopy, which proved to be a vital tool in the advancement and commercialization of lithium batteries in its early development for EV years, has recently been at the cutting edge of lead battery research in vari ous collaborations with the US Argonne National Laboratory.Greysaid: “I am delight ed that my contributions to the general field of en ergy materials have been honoured in this way. “I hope that this recognition highlights how important fundamental science is to performing the underpinning work that will help the world transition to a more sustainable society.”

Lambert has been involved in the battery industry since FebruaryLambert1977.(pictured), who is a well known, well liked and respected figure in the lead battery industry, as well as a popular confer ence speaker, says he does not intend to retire com pletely. “I don’t intend to leave the business but will continue as a part-time consultant for Wirtz,” he says.“This is an industry and a family that I’ve loved and cared for my entire work ing life. I am still passion ate about the lead battery technology and believe that it still has a long future, I don’t ever want to walk away from it completely”. “Wirtz and I have been planning this move since the start of the year,” says Lambert, “and we intend to make the transition of my position as smooth as pos sible to my successor.”

Lucas Sadler moves to Energy Vault from Fluence

PEOPLE NEWS 12 • Batteries International • Summer 2022 www.batteriesinternational.com

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Gridtential Energy an nounced mid-July that it will partner Hammond Group and Wirtz Manufacturing to develop a pilot manufac turing line to produce the biplate at the heart of its bi polar battery at Hammond’s facilities in Indiana. This, it says, will help sim plify the production process for battery manufacturers trying to integrate the firm’s bipolar technology, known as Silicon Joule, into their manufacturing facilities. “Together, the companies will develop and produce the biplate inside a Silicon Joule battery that greatly simplifies the production process for battery makers, combining time-consuming steps and saving the pro duction cost of stacking and adding active materials,” said a Gridtential statement. “Our 15 current develop ment partners will be able buy biplates directly and incorporate them into their volume factory lines. The bi plates will be the first readymade component for Silicon Joule-enabled batteries. “The partnerships with Hammond and Wirtz will merge three production steps our partners would have to take into a single, ready-made product.”

Barton: "Our ready-made biplate solutions speed up the commercialization timeline for many of our partners, and we are targeting 2023 or 2024 for commercial production launch.”

Gridtential to develop pilot biplate line with Hammond and Wirtz

Block B is a 48V, 32Ah industri al battery aimed at telecoms and BESS applications. The batteries will be delivered to existing Monbat clients and special projects requiring BESS for on-site deployment — which the firms say will supply the data needed for future mass production. Monbat says it has intensively tested prototype Block B batteries since 2019 in its certified testing laboratories.EdShaffer, founder of ABC, said: “Monbat’s aggressive adop tion of the GreenSeal technology for next generation products is important for more than just economic reasons.”

While the bottom-line results are important to Monbat’s business, additional benefits for both sides include providing “environmen tally, socially, and economically re sponsible” energy storage products and solutions, Shaffer said. Monbat CEO Viktor Spiriev said the company was “deter mined to become the first massscale producer of bipolar leadacid batteries in the world”. Monbat says it is the fourth largest lead-acid battery producer in Europe. The company has man ufacturing facilities in Bulgaria and Tunisia and recycling plants in Romania, Serbia and Italy. On May 2, ABC received Battery Council International’s 2022 innovation award in recognition of the company’s Home Emergency Energy Storage System, which builds on the firm’s GreenSeal technology.

NEWS 14 • Batteries International • Summer 2022 www.batteriesinternational.com

ABC, Monbat unveil bipolar mass production plans

Advanced Battery Concepts and Monbat announced plans on June 9 to develop a commercial bipolar battery for mass production in an investment deal worth around €16 million ($17 million). The partners said they were aiming to design a battery based on ABC’s GreenSeal technology for production at a future 1GWh Monbat facility to be built in Bulgaria.Theannouncement came after ABC said in December 2018 it had given licensing rights for its GreenSeal technology to Monbat. Under the latest agreement, in the first stage of their develop ment program, ABC will produce the so-called ‘Alpha Samples’ of Block B batteries at its plant in Michigan.

Terry Murphy, CEO of Hammond Group, said: “We’re very excited about the potential bipolar con figurations have for the lead battery industry. Bipolar batteries made by Gridten tial as well as ABC work. This is a proven technol ogy and huge leap forward bringing higher perfor mance lead-based batteries to compete with lithium ion technologies.”Gridtential CEO John Barton said: “Our readymade biplate solutions speed up the commerciali zation timeline for many of our partners, and we are targeting 2023 or 2024 for commercial production launch.”Gridtential’s development partners have yet to solve the mass mechanization of its Silicon Joule, technol ogy, which deploys fragile silicon wafers into their high-volume lines. In April 2021, Gridtential said it was ready to launch a series of AGM batteries pro duced on a prototype line at East Penn Manufacturing. In November 2019 Grid tential said it was in the middle of what it called the ‘industrialization’ of its technology — effectively converting what can be done manually into auto mated processes to achieve the costs and process con trol such advanced batteries will need. The first part, high-speed precision pasting onto a carrier rather than a grid, had then been accom plished using pasting tools developed by Wirtz Manu facturing.InOctober 2019, the firm presented a manual assem bly of the battery at Crown Battery to MAC Engineer ing, Sovema Group, TBS Engineering and Wirtz. The objective was to let mainstream equipment compa nies see first-hand the com ponents and sequencing needed in planning a highspeed assembly line.

European battery industry chiefs urged EU leaders on July 4 to reject draft proposals that could mean the lithium used in electric vehicle batteries is designated as a hazardous material.

Monbat managers acquire shares to secure near 21% group stake

The senior management team of Monbat has se cured a 20.78% stake in the lead batteries group and pledged to further develop operations, Monbat announced in a June 28 regulatory filing.

The letter called on the European Commission to reject a Category 1A classification for the three lithium salts and urges a “re-evaluation at the scien tific“Anlevel”.unjustified lithium salts classi fication will be a red flag that brings great uncertainty to companies look ing to make long-term investments into European refining and recycling capacity, risking delays or different in vestment decisions towards competing markets,” the letter said. The letter came after US-based spe ciality chemicals producer, Albemarle, told BI in June that the classification “would have a negative impact on the possibility of establishing lithium con version plants in Europe”. Albemarle said that if the proposals went ahead, “lithium carbonate and hydroxide could be processed outside of Europe and then imported, with negative effects on European strategic autonomy”.“Inappropriate classification of the three lithium salts would create business uncertainty on which markets could be served, for which applications, but also on the industrial processes and which safety measures and plant requirements would apply, deterring investors from committing to Europe at a crucial time for the entire lithium value chain. Inves tors could therefore find other markets more“Similarattractive.”limitations on investments would likely occur for the recycling of waste batteries and lithium-rich slag, due to regulatory uncertainty caused by this classification.”

*Theobjectives”.RAC’s‘Opinion proposing har monised classification and labelling at EU level of lithium carbonate, lithium chloride and lithium hydroxide’ are being considered by EU member states, with responses expected to be made later in the year.

Industry steps up calls to drop ‘lithium hazard’ classification Investments in both the lead and lithi um battery sectors in Europe are now at risk, with a leading global chemicals producer warning that new draft pro posals designating certain materials as ‘hazardous’ could choke-off financial backing at a crucial time for the EU.

Asked whether the proposals put the future of Albemarle’s Langelsheim plant in Germany at risk, the company said: “While the impact to our special ity customers is unclear at this point, we do not anticipate closure of Lan gelsheim.”However, Albemarle said several of Langelsheim’s industrial customers do not use any other 1A substances and “would be forced to implement very strict rules to control the substance or look for alternatives, which are often not available or less performing”. This would have a “direct impact on the plant revenue, which will already have to face higher operating costs compared to non-EU competitors due to the proposed classification”. In March, a report published jointly by EUROBAT and industries repre senting manufacturers of batteries, ceramic frits and complex inorganic colour pigments, lubricants and greas es and vehicles, said the three lithium salts were “fundamental and irreplace able building blocks for the shift to electric mobility, the integration of re newables in the energy mix and more generally the achievement of the Green Deal

now being further vested as shareholders, the management of Monbat is fully committed to the future development of the“Duringgroup. our involve ment as management, Monbat has become one of the five largest manu facturers of lead acid batteries in Europe, and has also launched and expanded operations in Romania, Serbia, Italy, Germany and Tunisia.”

NEWS www.batteriesinternational.com Batteries International • Summer 2022 • 15

EUROBAT and Recharge — the European industry association for ad vanced rechargeable and lithium batter ies — joined battery material produc ers in writing a letter to express “deep concern” about the proposals by the European Chemicals Agency’s Commit tee for Risk Assessment* (RAC). Those proposals suggest lithium carbonate, chloride and hydroxide should receive a ‘Category 1A’ (a known human car cinogen) classification. In the letter to top EU commission ers including Frans Timmermans, EU executive vice-president for the Green New Deal and Maroš Šefcovic, vice president for strategic foresight, indus try leaders said “the scientific evidence is too weak and does not justify such a severe classification, which would have a major impact on Europe’s industrial goals for electric vehicles, batteries, and critical raw materials”.

The six-member man agement team buy-in acquired shares, for an undisclosed sum, that were disposed of by the European Bank for Reconstruction and De velopment (EBRD) and CEECAT Capital. EBRD and CEECAT sold their shares in Prista HoldCo Coopera tive, which had held the 20.78% stake in Monbat, to HoldCo Investment — which is indirectly owned via EKIP Monbat by the six managers. A Monbat spokesper son told BI the six who share the stake equally are CEO Viktor Spiriev, board chairman Chavdar Danev, COO Peter Boy adjiev, procurator and Montana plant man ager Peter Hristov, sales director starter battery division Vili Kamenov, and industrial battery di vision manager Bozhidar Nekeziev.Monbat’s ingspokespersonandtoashareholders,majoritywhohold49%stake,continuebeAtanasBobokovPlamenBobokov,thesaid.CEOSpirievsaid:“Takthenextstepand

Ecobat silent on Stolberg future after sale to Trafigura Group

BCI’s call came in response to a June 9 request for information from the thatlinesductiveitacidexplosionscausesaofbatteries.tionlabellingpracticespaignedlabelling.collection,practicesonProtectionEnvironmentalAgency(EPA)howtodevelopbestforbatteryrecyclingandBCIhaslongcamforbettergoverningtheandcollecofleadandlithiumTheadditionlithiumbatteriesintoleadbatterybreakerpotentialfatalwhensulfuricmixeswithlithium.However,BCIwarnedwouldbe“counterprotoadoptguideorrequirementscouldinterrupt the existing, extremely successful, and industryfunded retail collection network for lead batter ies”.BCI said improved labelling would reduce the cross-contamination in recycling that leads to safety hazards, increased processing costs, and reduces the quality of recovered materials. The trade body said all batteries, regardless of chemistry, should have labels “with a consist ent and simple marking to encourage and aid recycling”.Onthelead battery in dustry’s recycling record, the EPA acknowledged that lead acid batteries “are manufactured with antimony, a critical min eral, and are currently recycled at a high rate” The EPA stressed that its focus was on im provements for battery chemistries that have a lower recovery level of critical minerals.

Nyrstar, the new operator of German lead produc tion plant Stolberg, told BI on July 21 there would be a “continuous assessment” of the potential for future investment in the site — but declined to be drawn on the plant’sNyrstar’sfuture.parent company, the Trafigura Group, an nounced earlier in the month it had entered into a bind ing agreement to acquire Ecobat Resources Stolberg (ERS), which owns the Stol berg multi-metals processing plant.Stolberg will be operated and managed by Nyrstar, a multi-metals mining and smelting company, which is a market leader in the produc tion of zinc and lead metal. But a Nyrstar spokesper son declined to discuss plans for the primary lead smelter site, which has been out of action since declaring force majeure last year after dev asting floods in Europe. Asked if there will be new investment in the site, par ticularly in terms of lead and lithium battery recycling, the spokesperson said: “The first priority will be the execution of the current business strat egy for the Stolberg business. “Going forward, we will assess on a continuous basis how this might evolve as we optimize opportunities and leverage synergies between the Nyrstar businesses.”

Battery Council In ternational urged US environment chiefs on July 11 to strengthen battery collection and recycling processes and to raise the standards of labelling for all battery chemistry products.

Campine acquires Recyclex for €3.5m BCI calls for new standards for battery labels

ERS was founded in 1848 and has one of the largest and most modern primary lead smelters in the world, according to Ecobat. The facility has the ca pacity to produce 155,000 tonnes of lead and more than 100 different specifica tions of market-leading lead alloys and produce 130,000 tonnes of sulphuric acid. Ecobat CEO Marcus Ran dolph said the sale was “con sistent with our strategy to concentrate on our core business of battery recycling and represents a significant step in the rationalization of our portfolio”.

Belgian metals recycling and speciality chemicals group Campine acquired French lead recycler Recy clex on July 7 for around €3.5 million ($3.5 million). The move came after the Paris Commercial Court approved Campine’s offer to take over Recyclex’s lead battery recycling plants in Escaudoeuvres and Ville franche-sur-Saône, as well as the plastics recycling company C2P — a Recy clex subsidiary also operat ing at Campine’sVillefranche.bidwas one of several announced on April 15 for parts of Recyclex, af ter the French group failed to organize an amicable debt restructuring process under an assets disposal program launched in May 2021.None of Recyclex’s debt liabilities have been trans ferred to Campine and a ‘Recyclex SA’ entity will continue to exist under in solvency proceedings in a bid to agree a debt restruc turing process — which the entity has said is still “very uncertain”.Campine also plans to invest between €8 million and €10 million across all three factories over the next four years. Recyclex posted annual sales for 2021 of around €88 million for the assets acquired by Camp ine.The two lead battery re cycling sites employ around 60 and have a recycling capacity of some 90,000 tonnes of used batteries and 11,000 tonnes of polypro pylene plastic waste. The acquisition is a sub stantial upstream expan sion of Campine’s battery recycling scope and adds recycled plastics as an addi tional material output, the companyCampinesaid.CEO Wim De Vos said: “This is a huge step for us. Campine is now really a multi-material recy cling enterprise.”

NEWS 16 • Batteries International • Summer 2022 www.batteriesinternational.com

Stolberg has only produced about 100 kt/a for the past few years of full production, as it has been focused on op timizing the type of through put rather than maxing out on tonnage, said lead com mentator Farid Ahmed. “It refurbished and ex panded its silver plant a few years ago and wants to get as much by-product value out of that, which means taking more complex feed which doesn’t work through the whole smelting process so quickly.”Financial details of the ac quisition, which is expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year, were not disclosed.Nyrstar and Trafigura have a long history of rarely giv ing out information about their activities, be this com mercially sensitive or not.

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ACE unveiled plans on May 10 to build and oper ate what it claims will be an “electric-powered, emissionfree” lead and lithium batter ies recycling facility in Texas.

Banks in loans boost for Sunlight’s expansion plans

Lead analyst Farid Ahmed, the newly-appointed vice president of global strategy and business development for ACE Green Recycling, has told BI the company is on track to produce refined lead in the US towards the end of next year. Some industry commenta tors say that the hydrometal lurgical process for battery recycling is fraught with potential commercial and technical difficulties, making such projects unfeasible (see Batteries International issue No.121).However, the lead and lithium batteries recycling company ACE expects pro duction to start at the plant it is building in Texas around the fourth-quarter of 2023, says Ahmed (pictured) — until recently an analyst with Wood Mackenzie. And Ahmed said he looked forward to making a “big ger contribution to the sus tainability and perpetuity of the lead industry while also gaining a footing in the lithi um-ion sector”.

NEWS www.batteriesinternational.com Batteries International • Summer 2022 • 19

The unitlithiumexpandtopledgefollowedannouncementSunlight’sinSeptember2021spend€50milliontoitsleadandmanufacturinginXanthi.

To date, the US-registered company has been cautious about releasing details of the technology it has developed, which Ahmed said is with good reason. ACE lists five battery recycling projects on its website, including Texas, as “coming soon” but is starting to disclose informa tion such as the projected an nual recycling capacities of 100,000 tonnes of lead bat teries and 20,000 tonnes of Li-ion batteries at its Texas facility.“There is a delicate balance between having your IP and processes fully protected by patents and discussing pro cesses openly,” Ahmed said. “I have known the compa ny for more than a year and I have seen their very detailed process mass balance models and scrutinising all that gave me the confidence to accept the offer to join the compa ny. Its technology is built on sound foundations.”

ACE developed what it described as a small com mercial plant in India, near Delhi, where Ahmed said customers saw the lead re cycling facility in operation. “With the lead recycling process having been proven, the equipment has now been disassembled and a lithium recycling plant is being built there to demonstrate and optimise that technology,” AhmedMeanwhile,said. Ahmed said the firm is constructing equipment for two major Asian lead recyclers, which is due for delivery in August and slated to be producing lead by late September. ACE recently established a UK entity, through which Ahmed works and which will focus on EMEA and global markets as the com pany develops partnerships in lithium battery recycling.

Ahmed has worked in and around the metals indus try since graduating with a degree in Metallurgy in the mid-1980s and has special ized in lead since 1992. He worked in R&D of platinum group metals for Johnson Matthey in the late 1980s and moved into lead in the early 1990s, working initially as a production met allurgist at Britannia Refined Metals before moving into the commercial sector of that company.Fromthe mid-2000s, he worked as a consultant to the lead industry, spanning the whole vertical sector from raw materials, produc tion and processing to spe cialist sales, product devel opment and market analysis. He joined Wood Mackenzie in 2015.

ACE Green Recyling to produce US lead in 2023 says VP Ahmed

The Sunlight Group has received €275 million ($286 million) funding from Greek banks to sup port its expansion of lead and lithium production and R&D, the company announced on June 24. Sunlight said the finan cial backing was in the form of seven-year loans and would form part of plans unveiled on May 11.The loans will support plant upgrades and an expansion of production capacity and assembly lines in the company’s Xanthi facilities in Greece, Italy and in the US to boost output of both lithium ion and lead batteries and energy storageSunlightsystems.saidthe loans would also enhance production of innovative motive power lead acid battery cells, with the installation of the latest automated production and assembly equipment. The €275 million loan agreements comprise a €125 million syndicated loan from Eurobank and Alpha Bank (€62.5 million each) and a €150 million loan from the National Bank of Greece.

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Wirtz is a Fanuc-approved robotic integrator and has supplied multiple automation systems for lead-calcium and pure lead plate-making. Our solutions have aided clients in motorcycle, automotive, and UPS markets with lead handling to additive additions for paste-mixing and palletizing. From high-speed spider robots with vision recognition that identify, sort, and stack plates at warp speed to conventional off-loading of automotive pasting lines, no matter the application Wirtz has the automation. INNOVATIVE | RELIABLE | PERFORMANCE The Wirtz Group of Companies your solution for increased production and productivity from labor shortages CUSTOM AND CONVENTIONAL AUTOMATED SOLUTIONS FOR: AUTOMATED ADDITIVES, FIBER EXPANDERS PASTE MIXING RFID, SERVOS, EQUIPMENT SETTINGS MONITORING LOADING, INGOT CASTING LEAD HANDLING VISION RECOGNITION SCANNING, HIGH-SPEED SPIDER ROBOTS SORTING - STACKING PALLETIZING ROBOTS, CUSTOM GANTRY SYSTEMS OFF LOADING - PALLETIZING Discover the benefits of robotic and automated solutions for increased production and productivity by calling +1.810.987.7600 or emailing sales@wirtzusa.com

Remy

Pruitt reveals rise in BCI members’ battery sales

cieslinkedwhile31%this2021.yearturnover($237forfirms.andtionaleconomyhyperinflationarybytheInternaMonetaryFundleadingaccountingMutluAküaccountednearlyZAR4billionmillion)ofMetair’sinthefinancialendedDecember31,Thecompanysaidrepresentedaboutofgroupturnover55%“wasdirectlytohardcurren(USdollarsoreuros)

Metair expects strong lead sales despite Turkish economy woes

BCI members have reported total passenger car battery sales of near ly 99 million in 2021, East Penn Manufactur ing CEO Chris Pruitt announced on May 2. Pruitt told BCI’s annual convention in Florida — where he was re-elected as president of the US trade body for a second term of office — that the sales (OE and replacement) were a 43% increase over 2020, with AGM batteries up more than 28%. Other group sizes are in greater demand, he said. “The past year was a year of recovery — from the pandemic and its economic impact,” Pruitt said.“Our industry has fared better than most, thanks in large part to our strong manufacturingdomesticbase, and our strong domestic sup ply chain — including the key lead suppliers andMeanwhile,recyclers.”Pruitt said BCI was pushing ahead for yet tighter blood levels for the industry. “We want to reach a maximum univer sal 20μg/dL of lead in workers by 2025.” Pruitt said that when this level is compared to the US Occupational Safety and Health Ad ministration’s pendence,”achieveAmerica’smanufacturingnizedgovernmentfactislatorsactivelysaidislativewe“how50μg/dL,recommendation(OSHA)ofitshowedpowerfulaleadaretaking”.Intermsoffederalleglobbying,PruittBCIcontinuedtoengagewithlegonCapitolHill.“Weareexcitedbythethatthefederalhasrecogthatbatteryiskeytosuccesstoenergyindehesaid. Battery acquires ‘friendly family-run rival’ Challenger

NEWS 22 • Batteries International • Summer 2022 www.batteriesinternational.com

The Remy Battery Com pany has acquired Chal lenger Battery Service in a deal signed on May 31, the US-based family-run busi nessesMikeannounced.Moeller, Remy Battery’s president, said the firms “have always been friendly competitors, working together in time of need and respecting each other’s business”. Remy Battery, which was established in 1931, spe cializes in predominantly lead batteries, cables, and battery accessories. Bat teries specialist Challenger was established in 1952.

Remy Battery said the acquisition fitted into the company’s strategy of pro viding services at a com munity level. The deal allows “a long-standing local family-owned busi ness in Waukesha, Wis consin, to continue to service their community, which will now be led by another ChallengerMilwaukee,sula,invalues”.thatfamily-ownedlong-standingcompanymaintainsthesameRemyhastwolocationsMichigan’sUpperPeninoneinWisconsinandandnowthesite.

Lead and lithium group Metair reported strong production and sales of automotive batteries across the countries that mostly comprise its bat tery businesses, in a vol untary half-year update issued on July 20. But the company told the Johannesburg Stock Exchange its formal in terim results announce ment will be delayed until around September 14. This is because the firm will review figures in rela tion to its Mutlu Akü bat teries operation in Turkey — which has been desig nated a through direct export and OEM sales, growing both volumes and price in the first half of 2022”. Metair said it was re viewing the impact on its results of International Accounting Standard 29, which provides guidance on financial reporting on currencies of hyperinfla tionaryHowever,economies.Metair said its energy storage division, which includes Mutlu Akü, Rombat in Roma nia and First National Battery in South Africa, continued to perform well despite tough operating conditions including high energy and labour costs in Europe and Turkey. Demand for lead acid batteries remained strong in all markets, especially in Turkey, despite the hy perinflationary economy classification for account ing periods ending on or after June 30, the com panyCumulativesaid. inflation rates in Turkey over a three-year period exceed ed 100% as at April 2022, MetairExportsaid.sales are earned in hard currency and pro vide a natural hedge to limit the impact of for eign exchange volatil ity and inflationary pres sures, Metair said. Meanwhile, Mutlu Akü will be the driving force behind an expected over all group production total of around four million automotive batteries pro duced in the first half of 2022, Metair said. The Turkish operation increased its export vol umes by more than 40%, compared to the sixmonth period ended June 30, 2021, despite a 10day labour wage strike at Mutlu Akü during June, which has been settled. Production from Rom bat is expected to be at least 10% lower than the year-ago period, mainly because of “dampened consumer confidence” from the Russia-Ukraine conflict.Inresults for the past full year reported on March 17, the company posted increases in reve nue and operating profit as its businesses, which in clude automotive compo nents, generated a 23% increase in overall revenue from the previous year to ZAR12.62 billion.

The SOPs would also serve “as an additional tool for regulators to promote sound practices in the sector, which will lead to reduction in the risks to the environment and public health”, Amoah said. ‘Facing challenges’ According to the ILA, improper recycling of lead acid batteries remains a problem in many low- and middleincome countries, causing pollution, with potentially serious impacts on the environment and human health.ILAregulatory affairs director Steve Binks said: “We are positive about the developments and hope that the transition to a sound battery recycling industry will continue. Other countries face similar challenges, and we hope that the SOPs will not only be used in Ghana, but also shared with, and applied in other settings.”TheSOPs, which are available online, were developed over 18 months in a project coordinated by Sustainable Recycling Industries and experts from the Mountain Research Institute, the Ghana National Cleaner Production Center and the Oeko-Institut — guided by the Ghana’s EPA, Factory Inspectorate Department and other regional and international experts.In2020, a global alliance of lead and battery associations condemned all informal lead battery recycling in response to a report launched by the international children’s charity Unicef, on July 30, which said a third of the world’s children were victims of lead Unicefpoisoning.saidinan

The ILA said on May 3 it welcomed new procedures published by Ghana’s government to improve battery recycling operations in the West African nation.

Selina Amoah, a deputy director at Ghana’s Environmental Protection Agency, said the SOPs and technical guidelines had been drawn up to ensure they could be widely understood and implemented.

interview with the Ghana News Agency in November 2021 that it would begin testing people — with a focus on children — for blood levels in the country. s e r v i c e s a n d s p a r e p a r t s m a n a g e m e n t e n g i n e e r i n g s e r v i c e s p r o c u r e m e n t m a n a g e m e n t t r a i n i n g o f p l a n t o p e r a t o r s R & D a n d l a b o r a t o r y s e r v i c e s C U S T O M E R S E R V I C E I S A K E Y F O R A L L S T C A C T I V I T I E S T O F U L F I L L O U R C L I E N T S N E E D S A N D B U I L D T O G E T H E R L O Y A L A N D L O N G T E R M R E L A T I O N S H I P S F r o m s i m p l e c l a r i f i c a t i o n s t o s e r i o u s e m e r g e n c i e s , S T C s k i l l e d t e a m i s a l w a y s a v a i l a b l e t o p r o v i d e a d v i c e t h r o u g h p l a n t s u r v e y s o r r e m o t e a s s i s t a n c e . T h e “ P r o b l e m S o l v i n g ” a t t i t u d e a n d f l e x i b i l i t y o f S T C T e a m i s o n e o f o u r m o s t p r e c i o u s a n d d i s t i n c t i v e s k i l l s A m o n g t h e o t h e r s , w e o f f e r : C o n t a c t o u r e x p e r t s f o r i n q u i r i e s a n d t e c h n i c a l d e t a i l s a t i n f o @ s t c i t a l y . c o m WE LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU www.stcitaly.com

YOUR ITALIAN PARTNER FOR BATTERY RECYCLING AND LEAD PRODUCTION O p t i m i z a t i o n a n d i m p r o v e m e n t o f e x i s t i n g p r o c e s s e s p r e s a l e s s u p p o r t p r o j e c t m a n a g e m e n t e q u i p m e n t c o n s t r u c t i o n c o n s t r u c t i o n m a n a g e m e n t a f t e r s a l e s

Lydia Essuah, director of policy, planning, monitoring and evaluation at Ghana’s Ministry for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, said: “We will make low-quality battery recycling a thing of the past in Ghana. Lead acid battery recycling is a lucrative industry, so we expect all recyclers to meet the technical guidelines.”

The new standard operating procedures (SOPs) were developed in cooperation with organizations including the ILA, Battery Council International, EUROBAT and with the Sustainable Recycling Industries and the Material Stewardship Program of the global lead and lead battery industries.

NEWS www.batteriesinternational.com Batteries International • Summer 2022 • 23

Lead stewardshipactionwelcomesindustryGhanaonbatteries

Managing director Trevor Matthews said on June 30 the decision to recommence the graphite mine and pro cessing operations was “a positive step forward for the Zavalievsky management and staff, local communities and businesses that depend on the graphite business for theirVoltlivelihoods”.reportedon Febru ary 3 that it was evaluating the electrochemical per formance of its ultra-high purity non-spherical mate rial for use as an expander in lead acid batteries. The company said work was being performed “under the close oversight” of a potential off-take partner — an unnamed lead battery company.Voltsays the development of non-spherical graphite products for the alkaline and lead battery markets will improve the economics of the firm’s planned battery anode material facilities in the US and Europe.

The Basel Convention’s secretariat approved the ILA’s request to nominate Wilson to provide techni cal assistance to the group.

The technical contact group also noted differ ences between batteries in terms of their manage ment, recycling and safe disposal including the fact that technologies for disposing of, or recycling lithium ion batteries are stillSteveemerging.”Binks,ILA regula tory affairs director, said the trade body’s work with the group was “an impor tant part of our commit ment to safe and respon sible battery recycling in low and updatingwillnizedguidelinescountries”.middle-income“TheBaseltechnicalaretherecogstandardandILAnowcontributetothem.”

The associations have al ready established a global programme to create a sus tainable future by champi oning best practices in lead mining, lead production, lead battery manufacturing and recycling, and by en couraging responsible prac tices through supply chain management and product stewardship.BCIexecutive vice presi dent Roger Miksad said: “We believe the learnings of the North American in dustry can be adapted and shared with others through knowledge transfer to im prove on-the-ground con ditions in many targeted communities.”ILAmanaging director Andy Bush said PECP was aligned closely with the association’s own mate rial stewardship activities, “promoting the adoption of safe and responsible bat tery recycling in all regions of the EUROBATworld”.executive di rector Rene Schroeder said PCP “brings the industry’s efforts for sound battery re cycling to the next level and we are thrilled to be a part of the campaign”. The ILA is to join an international review of battery recycling stand ards under the Basel Convention.ILA’sspecial adviser, Brian Wilson, attended the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Par ties (COP) of the Basel Convention in Geneva, which met from June 6-17 to discuss the need to update existing technical guidelines for the safe and environmentally sound recycling of used lead batteries.AttheCOP, which was attended by more than 1,500 delegates from 200 countries, it was agreed that a special technical group would be set up to review and update the guidelines.Thegroup will also re view the need to introduce and prepare guidelines for responsibly recycling other battery technologies.

Volt Resources

Battery industry leaders join forces to protect children

NEWS www.batteriesinternational.com Batteries International • Summer 2022 • 25

Australia-based Volt Re sources said on June 30 it had received firm commit ments to raise $2 million in a share placement to help restart graphite production in Ukraine — and to con tinue producing lithium ion battery anode, alkaline and lead battery product sam ples for customer testing. The funds would go to Ukraine’s Zavalievsky graphite mine, about 280km south of Kyiv, a processing plant and boost the export of graphite products to cus tomers in Europe, Volt said. The placement will also support the preparation of feasibility studies for a small-scale battery anode material production facility in the US, and a larger such facility that can be used as a “template design” for facil ities in the US and Europe. Volt has a 70% stake in the ZG Group in Ukraine and is focused on the explo ration and development of its wholly-owned graphite and gold projects in Tanza nia and OperationsGuinea. at Zava lievsky were suspended after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Volt confirmed in a regula tory filing on March 1.

Four battery associations representing the entire lead battery value chain are joining the Protecting Eve ry Child’s Potential (PECP) initiative. This was founded in October 2020 by bat tery manufacturer Clarios, Unicef and Pure Earth, a US non-profit organization to help protect children’s health from lead exposure globally.TheInternational Lead Association, Battery Coun cil International, Associa tion of Battery Recyclers and EUROBAT are joining PECP as part of their joint Material Stewardship Pro ject.All four associations will work to help ensure chil dren in low and middleincome countries— where regulatory controls are often absent — are not ex posed to lead. They will provide assis tance, including pro bono technical support, to help regulators and businesses in low and middle-income countries to adopt global best practices — building on existing projects around the world supported by the ILA and BCI.

ILA to support Basel review of lead battery recycling standards

$2m share placement plans for graphite restart in Ukraine

Speaking after the meet ing, Wilson said: “There was universal support for the request to update the technical guidance for lead battery recycling.

Exide Li‘multi-gigawatt’revealsIndustriessiteforcellsplant

GS Yuasa expands battery line

Stryten Energy has been praised for its “cuttingedge” role in support of US energy policy, during a tour of the company’s Kansas plant on June 20 by con gressman Tracey Mann. Stryten announced in March that it had formed two new divisions — Mo tive Power and Essential Power — focused on developing and producing multiple battery technolo gies, including lead, for the energy storage market. Mann, who represents the district that is home to Stryten’s Salina plant, said: “Now more than ever, the US must utilize an ‘all of the above’ energy strategy that prioritizes American energy mesticMelissacorporatedistributors.retaildirectlytionUS,sitesfacility,District.”businessthinkingtofreedomenhancingingthecommitted“Strytenindependence.”Energyistosolvingworld’smostpressenergychallengesandAmerica’senergy—itisanhonourhavesuchaforward-andcutting-edgeintheBigFirstTheSalinamanufacturingoneof12StrytenacrossthecontinentalproducestransportabatteriesthataresenttoaftermarketlocationsandbatteryStryten’svicepresidentforcommunications,Floyd,said:“Domanufacturerslike Stryten are working hard to meet the current demand for energy storage in the US and we appreciate Repre sentative Mann’s support for an energy strategy that prioritizes American energy independence.”Mann’svisitfollowed an April 22 tour of the plant made by fellow Kansas lawmaker Sharice Davids. Representative Davids, a key negotiator for the House of Representatives as Congress finalized a bipartisan supply chain package, said: “Stryten is a great example of the energy and supply chain solutions we should continue to grow here at home,” Davids said.

Lawmakers praise Stryten Energy for support of US energy policy

Recycler Gravita invests in solar

Lead-acid batteries group Exide Industries has named the site in India where its Exide Energy Solutions (EES) subsidiary will build a multi-gigawatt lithium ion cells manufacturing plant. Exide said EES entered into an agreement on July 26 for the 80-acre site at the Hi-tech, Defence & Aero space Park, in Karnataka state, where it will build the plant in collaboration with China’s SVOLT Energy Technology.Exideindicated earlier this year that it might be about to invest in the re gion of Rs6,000 crore — Rs60,000,000,000 ($793 million) — in building the greenfield facility. EES has now executed a lease cum sale agreement with the Karnataka Indus trial Areas Development Board for the site, Exide said in a regulatory filing on JulyThe27.filing did not disclose financial details or say when work on the project might start but said the new plant would cater for “new-age electric mobility and sta tionary application busi nesses” in India. India’s Ministry of Cor porate Affairs issued a cer tificate of incorporation on March 24 for the EES subsidiary, which will coor dinate development of the Karnataka plant and run future operations at the site. Exide has said previously that SVOLT, which has its headquarters in China’s Ji angsu province, would sup port the setting up of the Karnataka plant on a turn key basis. In August 2021, SVOLT closed a series ‘B’ financing of Rmb10.28 billion (about $1.6 billion), following a se ries ‘A’ financing of Rmb3.5 billion at the end of Febru ary 2021.

GS Yuasa said on June 15 it had launched a new EFB automotive battery as the Japan-headquartered firm moves to expand its Eu ropean supply coverage to more than 500,000 ve hicles.Thenew YBX7012 startstop product marks an expansion of its YBX EFB range.The company said the 12V L1 DIN case type bat tery provides 50Ah and 540A (EN) and is aimed at petrol and hybrid vehicles with a one litre engine. Jon Pritchard, general manager of GS Yuasa Bat tery Europe’s automotive, motorcycle and industrial components division said: “Our OE quality Yuasa YBX automotive range is the UK market-leader and already provides the wid est coverage of any brand on the market. “For our customers, and the workshops they supply, this means they are able to fit batteries to more makes and models than ever be fore, especially as vehicles with advanced emission reduction systems, such as start-stop, become more prevalent in the park. The 7012 EFB alone will in crease UK park coverage by around 50,000 vehi cles.”The announcement came after the company broke ground at the site of a new HQ and distribution centre in the UK on March 23.

Lead recycler Gravita India has installed solar energy systems with a total electric ity generating capacity of 1,300kW across its manu facturing facilities in the country.Gravita said on May 27 the total investment for the projects was Rs60 million ($772,000) and underlined the company’s commitment to achieving carbon neutral ity throughout its opera tions.The solar installations will provide up to 8% of Gravi ta’s energy needs and reduce carbon emissions by around 1,550 tonnes per year, the company claimed. On May 12, Gravita re vealed plans to use a byproduct of a new waste rub ber recycling operation at its plant in Ghana as potential fuel for its lead and alumini um recycling business. Gravita said in a regula tory filing that its Recy lers Ghana subsidiary had started commercial produc tion and recycling of waste rubber in the West African nation — and that it would use pyrolysis oil generated during the process as an al ternative source of energy to support its lead and alumin ium recycling there. The company did not give details of how it would fur ther refine the pyrolysis oil from the Ghana rubber re cycling operation, which has an annual capacity of around 6,000 tonnes annu ally.

NEWS 26 • Batteries International • Summer 2022 www.batteriesinternational.com

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Lead batteries giant Clarios and Natron Energy an nounced on May 4 they were teaming up to manu facture what they said would be the world’s first mass-produced sodium ion batteries.Clarios’ Meadowbrook facility in Michigan will become “the world’s larg est sodium ion battery plant when mass production be gins in 2023” — placing the US at the forefront of sodi um ion battery manufactur ing, the firms said. Natron will install new cell assembly equipment at Meadowbrook, with sup port from the US Depart ment of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects AgencyEnergy (ARPA-E), but de tails were not disclosed.

Business, energy and industry minister Kwasi Kwarteng said in a new policy paper launching the UK’s first ‘critical minerals strategy: “Global demand growth for certain miner als, driven in many cases by decarbonization targets, could outstrip supply chain capacity, which will struggle to expand quickly enough owing to long lead times for mine development and mineral processing.”

Kwarteng cited data from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence indicating that “rising demand has caused lithium prices to increase nearly 400% year-on-year as of May 2022”. Cobalt, lithium and vanadium are already on a list of UK-designated critical minerals published by the government in late 2021 and now nickel has been put on a “watchlist”, Kwarteng said.

Novonix co-founder and CEO Chris Burns said work on the project opens the gateway to exciting new possibilities for a cleaner, more reliable power grid with renewa bles being produced, stored and consumed within local communities.Novonixwas created from work by Jeff Dahn’s research group at Dalhou sie University that focuses on lithium ion battery research and works exclu sively with thiswouldandbatterysayspokespersonHowever,Tesla.aNovonixwouldnotwhetherthenewislithiumbasedsaidtestingproceduresnotberevealedatstage.

Executive director of the Andhra Pradesh battery maker’s lead acid business, Harshavardhana Gou rineni, said the company had successfully overcome temporary hurdles in the supply chain in the past year and is now “well set to make the most of new opportunities”.AmaraRaja has been involved in the develop ment and production of improving lead battery technologies since it was established in 1985. The company an nounced in February 2021 that it would begin work on developing lithi um ion cells.

Clarios, Natron Energy to team up for ‘world first’ in sodium ion production

The companies said the similarity in manufactur ing requirements will en able them to use part of the Meadowbrook lithium ion facility for sodium ion production at a lower cost and faster time to market compared to building a new factory.Meadowbrook was built as part of the American Re covery and Reinvestment program and has produced automotive lithium ion cells for the past decade. Under the terms of the firms’ collaboration agree ment, electrodes and large format cells based on Na tron’s proprietary Prussian blue electrode sodium ion chemistry will be manufac tured in an existing Clarios plant in Clarios’Michigan.vicepresident of technology, Craig Rigby, said: “As a world leader in battery technology, Clarios is invested in sharing its experi ence in the emerging battery space and to provide exper tise in scale manufacturing for advanced technologies.” In September 2020, Na tron said it had achieved an Underwriters Laboratories (UL) listing for its BlueTray 4000 battery design, which uses Prussian blue chemistry and which was released in 2021 targeting the telecoms and data centres market. Last November, Clarios signed a deal with the Amer ican KULR Technology Group “to develop the man ufacturing and re-use of lithium ion batteries and their chemical elements in the US”.

Emera and Novonix Deliver microgrid battery prototype Emera Technologies and Canada-based Novonix Battery Technology Solu tions announced on June 6 the delivery of a customdesigned microgrid battery prototype.Thefirms announced a partnership to work on the project in February last year.Novonix has developed the battery to support Em era’s residential BlockEner gy microgrid system, which was launched in Florida in October 2020 as the “first utility-owned community microgrid platform”. The microgrid connects homes in a shared energy network, enabling rooftop solar power to be stored and distributed to the entire community through smart distributed controls. Working with research partner, the US Sandia National Laboratory, the companies say testing of the new battery should be completed later this year.

NEWS www.batteriesinternational.com Batteries International • Summer 2022 • 29

Amara Raja pledges ‘fast track’ for lithium project as firm joins CBI UK launches critical minerals supply plan

The UK has joined a grow ing list of nations to issue a critical minerals alert, warning on July 22 that its plans to become a ‘giga batteries’ producer supply ing electric vehicles and en ergy storage systems could stall because of expected shortages of raw materials.

India’s Amara Raja Bat teries has pledged to “fast track” its development of a customer qualifica tion plant for lithium cells while also building on its lead battery foundations. The announcement came after the company became the latest member of the Consortium for Battery Innovation.CEOand MD Jayadev Galla said in a regulatory filing about the company’s activities to the National Stock Exchange of In dia on May 20: “We are steadfast in our long-term strategy of energy and mo bility leadership, and are building upon our strength to expand our global foot print for the lead acid bat tery business, while at the same time making good progress in the viable new energy technologies space.”

Vernon clean-up saga enters next phase

Fibre-based materials pro ducer Ahlstrom-Munksjö said on April 7 it had started production of an absorbent glass mat line in Italy. The Finland-headquar tered firm said the line is at its plant in Turin, where it has invested in additional manufacturing capacity for filtration and energy storage materials — although it did not give investment or pro duction details. The AGM line will serve applications where glass mi crofiber media is required, supporting AhlstromMunksjö’s expansion into industrial filtration as well as in supplying the lead bat teries market, the company said.Giuseppe Costa, vice pres ident of filtration and per formance solutions for Asia and EMEA, said the launch signalled a “a strong step into the energy storage mar ket by bringing on-stream a platform which will be fully qualified for the manufac ture of AGM media”.

NEWS 30 • Batteries International • Summer 2022 www.batteriesinternational.com

EnerSys reported a 13% increase in sales in annual results posted on May 25. The lead and lithium batteries producer said net sales for the full year ended March were $3.36 billion compared to just under $3 billion in the year ago period.EnerSys said the rise was due to a 10% increase in organic volume result ing primarily from strong demand and a 3% increase inSalespricing.inthe motive power segment amounted to $1.4 billion — an increase of 17% over the previ ous year. Sales of energy systems, which combines enclosures, power conver sion, power distribution and energy storage, in creased by more than 11% to $1.5 Adjustedbillion.Ebitda was $340 million compared to $345 million previously, against a backdrop of inflation and supply chain disruptions.CEODavid Shaffer said key milestones achieved in fiscal 2022 included the launch and UL safety listing of EnerSys’ NexSys lithium ion batteries. Shaffer said the com pany had also exceeded its capacity goal for its proprietary TPPL technol ogy, where demand, he said, “continues to outpace our ability to supply”. “We expect to benefit further from the strength of this demand as we make progress toward increasing capacity by an additional $200 million in fiscal 2023.”OnMarch 9, the EnerSys board announced a $150 million stock reportinaugurallaunchingauthorization,repurchaseaheadofthecompany’ssustainabilityonApril29.

A ‘Superfund’ listing request — to potentially unlock mil lions of dollars in federal funding to support clean-up activities at the former Ex ide Technologies recycling facility in Vernon — was issued by the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) on July 1. CalEPA is calling for the site and its surroundings to be added to US Environ mental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ‘National Priorities List’, which is also known as the CaliforniaSuperfund.governor Gavin Newsom said the move was designed to “aggressively pursue federal funds” avail able under the Biden admin istration’s Bipartisan Infra structure Law, which was passed by Congress earlier this year. This provides $1.5 billion to revitalize brown fields across the US plus additional funds to protect human health and the envi ronment.CalEPA secretary Jared Blumenfeld said: “Vernon is one of the most contaminat ed lead sites in the country.

A Superfund listing would bring federal resources and expertise to the table that have frankly been missing for too Californialong.” has allocated $700 million for the facil ity and residential clean-up to date and has remediated nearly 4,000 properties, CalEPA said. Work by California’s De partment of Toxic Substanc es Control (DTSC) at the former Exide site is sched uled to continue until the autumn of 2025, at which point 6,000 properties and additional facilities will have been cleaned up. However, the DTSC esti mates completion will cost an additional $150 million, for which there is no fund ing in place, CalEPA said. Meanwhile, industrial properties surrounding the facility have yet to be in vestigated and their cleanup costs are unknown, the agency said. The Vernon site, five miles south of downtown Los Angeles, has been shuttered since 2014. It had been oper ated by Exide as a lead bat tery recycling and smelting facility for almost a century, producing around 110,000 tonnes of lead a year. The DTSC said last Janu ary that it had hit its target of removing the soil from 3,200 properties in the area around the old Exide facility by the end of 2021.

Banner Batterien has marked 85 years in the battery manufacturing business with an anniver sary celebration for staff. More than 500 employ ees, including some 200 from the company’s 13 sales organisations, joined the event at Banner’s head quarters in Leonding, the firm announced on June 14.The anniversary celebra tion was the first major gathering of staff since the lifting of pandemic re strictions and a number of long-serving members of the workforce were hon oured during the event.

Banner’s roots branch back to when company founder, Artur Bawart, launched a small business in the 1930s and Banner became involved in the battery business in 1937. Today, the firm is Aus tria’s only car battery pro ducer and counts itself as being among the industry’s five largest manufacturers inTheEurope.company owners and cousins are commer cial CEO Andreas Bawart and Technical CEO Thom asOnBawart.May 24, Banner re ported an uptick in sales to €286 million ($307 mil lion) in annual results after what it said was a chal lenging year.

New Italy AGM line for Ahlstrom-Munksjö

Banner marks 85 years in batteries business

inreportsEnerSysboostannualsales

NEWS www.batteriesinternational.com Batteries International • Summer 2022 • 31

Birla expansioninvestmentannouncesCarbon‘milestone’incapacity

speed of lithium and lead acidThebatteries.company uses a virtual car to showcase the value and widespread usage of carbon black by examining its usage in the intricate parts of the vehicle.Birlasaid the virtual showroom marks its foray into digital innovation to explain the usage of carbon black products, not just in battery technology but also in mechanical rubber goods, coatings, inks, plastics, and tyres. The initiative followed the company’s announcement on July 14 that it had raised $50 million in the form of a ‘green loan’ to refinance a part of the capital expenditure incurred for tackling emissions at its North Bend plant in the US. Remy Battery gets ISO certification9001:2015 Remy Battery Company, the announcedbatteryMilwaukee-basedfirmintheUS,onJuly18 that it had been awarded ISO 9001:2015 certification. ISO 9001:2015 is a globally recognized quality management standard developed and published by the ISO Organization. The standard is based on several principles, including having a strong customer focus, the involvement of high-level firm.Moeller,services,”procedures,continuallycompanyouraccreditationISOdedicationthisongoingapproachmanagement,companyanoutlinedtoprocesses,andimprovementofveryapproach.“RemyBattery’stoworktowards9001:2015demonstratescommitmenttoourpolicyofimprovingproducts,andsaysMikepresidentofthe

Carbon additives company Birla Carbon announced on May 31 it was investing in a combined production capacity expansion of 200 kilotonnes across key markets.Birlasaid the expansion would cover markets in Europe, India, and China in support of rubber and speciality applications. The expansions should be finished by 2024. The expansion plans follow the company’s May 16 announcement that its prices for all carbon black products manufactured in North America would increase by 15% from July 1.Group director Santrupt Misra said the unspecified investment marked “another milestone in the transformational journey” of the “Birlacompany.Carbon will continue to focus on building new capabilities and enhancing the availability of carbon black across key regions, further consolidating its global leadership.“Whether it is unique, highly specialized processes to tailor materials for speciality applications, security of supply, or consistent quality… the new capacity will enable us to sustainably serve growth in a range of segments including tyres, rubber goods, plastics, coatings, and other speciality markets.”InJuly,the company launched an online ‘virtual showroom’ — highlighting the diverse industrial usage of carbon black including in battery technology.Birlahasdeveloped a range of density,theareconductiveperformanceadditivesthatdesignedtoimproveenergydensity,powerandcharging

Watt Flex® heaters hav e a p a t e n t e d s p l i t - s h e a t h d e s i g n t h a t e l i m i n a t e s c o s t l y B O R E S E I Z U R E . C o n t i n u o u s c o i l t e c h n o l o g y o f f e r s the longest lasting, most even heat used in: - GRID CASTING and FORMATION - COS DIE and LEAD PUMP - COVER SEALING PLATEN It's time you switched to Watt Flex® cartridge heaters. DaltonElectric.com 978-356-9844

Batteries insurance and warranties company Altelium has teamed up with Tokio Marine Kiln (TMK), an international insurance underwrit ing business, to launch what the partners say is a world-first warranty programme for battery energy storage systems. Warranties are is sued based on battery properties, behaviours and data analytics. An online platform is used to gather the information, including data capture, performance and risk assessment, to the pricing of the premium. The companies say such warranties can be used to support the use and tradein of second life batteries, and so lowering technol ogy and operational risk. Purchasing warranties enables battery manufac turers “to free up trapped capital”, allowing greater resources to be focused on growth, UK-based Altelium celerateaimEdAlteliumsaid.co-founderGrimstonsaidthewasto“helpacthetransition to renewables by providing real-time, data-driven insurance solutions for first and second-life BESS andTMKEVs”.head of innova tion Tom Hoad said: “Providing insured warranties for BESS will unlock the deployment of large-scale capital invest ment.“We are all aware of the urgent need to improve energy security and slash carbon emis sions. Partnering with start-ups like Altelium helps us support this.”

The sister publication of BI, Energy Storage Journal reported on March 3 that China had called on the International Maritime Organization to consider a shake-up of maritime safety rules for EVs being shipped by sea.

A new report released on May 10 warns that the lithium-powered so-called ‘green energy’ revolution is increasingly hazardous for shipping safety — with EV battery fires contribut ing to clean-up costs and causing environmental concerns.According to the Safety & Shipping Review 2022, published by corporate insurance carrier Allianz Global Corporate & Spe cialty (AGCS), the rise in popularity of EVs repre sents “a significant dif ference in risk profile for shippers when compared with traditional vehicles”. Following more than 70 reported fires on contain er ships alone in the past five years, the report says a major rethink of vessel designs, fire detection and fire-fighting capabilities may also be required. The report cites the inci dent last February, when a fire broke out aboard the car carrier Felicity Ace in theTheAtlantic.vessel sank in March with 4,000 vehicles, in cluding EVs, worth an es timated $400 million-$500 million on board, while being towed to rescue, the report“Givensays.the vessel sank, the exact cause of the fire may never be known. However, it is thought the presence of lithium ion batteries on board aggra vated“EVconditions.lithiumion batter ies could potentially ignite if damaged, are susceptible to cargo shift in rough seas if not adequately secured and can also combust with an increase in temperature from a nearby fire or even during on board charging,” the report says. “Fires require a large vol ume of water to extinguish and cool the surrounding area, which can, in turn, endanger the stability of the ship. Crews will need to be specially trained and equipped with appropriate detectors and fire extin guishing detectionbefectively.thearecostly-sensitiveselscontainer/passengerdentfactoredmentaloncecostorinvolvinglargertheicallyandofinrineAGCS’Captainequipment.”RahulKhanna,globalheadofmariskconsulting,saysthereport:“Thecostsrespondingtoincidentsclean-uparenowtypmanymultiplesofship’svalue.“Largervesselsmeanlosses.Anincidentacontainershipcarcarriercannowasmuchas$1billion,salvageandenvironconsiderationsarein.Amajorinciinvolvingtwomegavesinanenvironmentalregioncouldinexcessof$4bn.“WenowhaveshipsthatalmosttoolargeforcrewtofightfiresefThereneedstoanurgentreviewoffireandfightingpro

ENERGY STORAGE NEWS 32 • Batteries International • Summer 2022 www.batteriesinternational.com

tections and equipment on board large container ships.”Cargo mis-declaration is another problem, the report says, citing an inci dent in August 2021 when a container full of discard ed lithium batteries caught fire in the US while being transported by road to the Port of Virginia, where it was due to be loaded on to a container ship. The cargo had been wrongly declared as ‘com puter parts’ and the US Coast Guard said that the incident could have been catastrophic had the con tainers caught fire after being loaded aboard the ship.Cargo vessels accounted for half of all 27 vessels lost around the world in 2021, according to AGCS.

Batteries insurance warranty scheme launched The smoke-engulfed Felicity Ace Photo: Allianz

Allianz warns of EV batteries risk to safe shipping

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Dan Shreve, global head of energy storage at Wood Mackenzie, said: “Growth has stalled in Europe as regulatory barriers fail to improve storage project economics. In addition, limited access to power markets and a lack of reve nue stacking opportunities, combined with a lack of capacity market auctions, has lowered investment for grid-scale storage assets in Europe.”

However, the study said Germany’s energy storage market is continuing to grow and is set to become the third biggest energy storage market by 2030 after the US and China — with 32GWh forecasted for the country, 61% of which derived from residential storage.Thestudy notes that the European Commission’s REPowerEU plan — aimed at severing dependence on Russian gas before 2030 — will boost the EU energy storage market further as it pushes for a higher share of renewable supply in EU memberEuropestates.hasalready seen a 12 GWh increase since the plan was launched this May, which set out a 600GW target for the solar PV market and pledged to ease permitting processes for storage and PV systems.

Europe trails US, China in ESS growth, study reveals European investment in energy storage systems has stalled — and the region is lagging behind the US and China in terms of market growth in the sector, ac cording to a new study.

Shreve said: “While RE PowerEU does not set out a specific target for energy storage, higher renewable supply targets will drive demand for flexible power solutions, including energy storageMeanwhile,assets.” the US re mains the energy storage market leader, with aver age annual installations of 54GWh through to 2031, 83% of which will be gridscale, the study says. But Wood Mackenzie’s US outlook shows 2022 and 2023 demand downgrades of 34% and 27% respec tively because of what the company says are disrup tions within the grid-scale and distributed segments from an anti-dumping and countervailing duties (AD/ CVD) tariff suit from the second quarter of this year. “The US solar and stor age market was hit hard by the AD/CVD tariff pe tition, with approximately 35% of 2022 hybrid gridscale installations delayed,” Shreve said. On China, the study high lights the country’s “contin ued dominance” in the Asia Pacific market, with more than 400GWh of demand forecast through to 2031. Shreve said this has main ly been driven by China’s 14th ‘Five-Year New En ergy Storage mance.provedthantemvelopmentwillthatizationageimportancewhichImplementationDevelopmentPlan’,reiteratedthecentralofenergystorinnationaldecarbonplans.China’splanproposesby2025energystorageenterthelarge-scaledestage,withsyscostsfallingbymore30%throughimtechnologyperfor

The European Commis sion said on May 18 that battery storage and re newables projects should be fast-tracked and planning red tape slashed, as Europe scrambles to combat a looming energy crisis.The recommendedCommissionthat EU countries speed up ap provals for the planning, construction and opera tion of plants producing electricity from renewa bles — together with energy storage facilities — and ensure such pro jects “qualify for the most favourable procedure available in planning and permit-granting proce dures”.Allsuch projects should be “presumed as being in the overriding public interest and in the interest of public safety”, the Commission said. EASE urges 14GW p/year ramp-up of energy storage for renewables EU nations urged to fast-track storage and cut red tape Europe needs a ramp up of energy storage capac ity at the rate of at least 14GW per year within the next nine years — or the bloc will be unable to inte grate energy supplies from the rapid expansion of re newables and miss climate goals, says a study released in June by the European Association for Storage of EnergyExisting(EASE).European Com mission assumptions on en ergy storage need to be re vised, according to EASE’s Energy Storage Targets re port* — which estimates a ‘no-regret storage require ment’ of about 200GW by 2030 and 600GW by 2050, including 435GW from ingsolutionspower-to-X-to-powerforenergyshiftandstorageforvarying durations.“Establishing these 2030 and 2050 values as energy storage targets at EU level, with a dedicated energy storage strategy, will pro vide a clear signal to the energy storage industry and investors to begin building the infrastructure needed to drive large-scale deploy ment in parallel with sup porting renewables integra tion,” the report says. According to EASE, most recent Commission studies, published in March 2020, estimated 456GW of flexi bility would be needed by 2030, but EASE said this is based on “outdated climate targets” and should be re viewed as the EU starts to cut back on fossil fuel im ports such as those from Russia.

Cumulative storage de ployments worldwide are expected to reach 500GW by 2031, says Wood Mack enzie’s Global Energy Stor age Outlook, published in July.But the study says Eu rope demand is lagging behind as the region’s gridscale market “struggles to stabilize”, with only 159GWh forecast for the region by 2031, compared to 422GWh for China and 600GWh for the US. One commentator blames the over-regulation of the European Commis sion, the civil service arm of the EU, as the reason for the slower rates of adoption: “In the US com mercial imperatives, which are mostly understood by federal states, underpins the growth. In China the central government’s grip on the economy means it can impose its will across the“Butnation.inEurope, decisionmaking by committee and by politicians with little commercial experience has caused the region to talk big, put too many rules into place and then lag behind the others. If there is any good to come from the Rus sian invasion of Ukraine it has stirred up a greater sense of urgency about en ergy storage across the EU.”

ENERGY STORAGE NEWS www.batteriesinternational.com Batteries International • Summer 2022 • 35

Umicore launches Korea R&D plant for cathode materials

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ENERGY STORAGE NEWS 36 • Batteries International • Summer 2022 www.batteriesinternational.com

Canadian Solar has entered the UK’s utility scale energy storage market after sign ing agreements for four battery storage projects, the company said on May 9. The agreements with Pulse Clean Energy, in clude converting four die sel generation sites into grid-scale battery storage facilities, together with engineering, procurement and construction ser vices for the more than 100MWh of projects.

Pulse, which launched earlier this year, said the sites are in South Wales, Warwickshire and northeastTheEngland.companies did not disclose financial details or specify the battery tech nology involved, but said the deal marked the start of a long-term partnership between the companies. In addition to providing the battery storage sys tems and construction ser vices, Canadian Solar will maintain and operate the projects under a 10-year long-term service agree ment.Asof January 31, 2022, Canadian Solar’s energy storage portfolio included 300MWh of projects under a long-term service agree ment, 2,043MWh of proj ects under construction and a remaining pipeline of over 4GWh. Canadian So lar’s Energy Storage Team says it continues to expand its regional footprint, exe cuting storage projects and deploying resources in Can ada, the US, UK Australia, and China.

Automotive and en ergy systems company Miba has acquired an undisclosed majority stake in battery systems producer Voltlabor, the Austrian companies an nounced on May 23. The deal builds on the 25.1% stake Miba acquired in 2019 and Voltlabor will be re named Miba Battery Systems.Voltlabor develops and produces battery systems incorporating a novel managementtemperaturesystem for sectors including energy storage and e-mobility. Miba is building a 3,900 square metre (42,000 square feet) ‘VOLTFactory’ battery production plant in Bad Leonfelden, Austria and says other such plants are planned to meet enormous demand. Miba CEO Peter Mit terbauer said acquiring a majority stake in Volt labor was an important milestone in his compa ny’s corporate strategy. “We want to grow to sales of €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) by 2027 with technologies for end applications for the efficient portfolio.”toandpillarenergyBatteriesandtransmission,generation,storageuseofenergy.asstorageforareanimportantinthiscontextanoptimaladditiontheMibaproduct

Canadian Solar enters UK utility-scale ESS market Materials technology and recycling group Umicore has formally opened a new global research and devel opment center for cathode materials in South Korea, the company announced on MayUmicore10. said the 30,000m2 (330,000 square feet) center, built next to the company’s existing R&D and cathode materials pro duction plants in Cheonan, became fully operational in early April, providing ser vices for the energy storage, automotive and portable electronics sectors. The centre also houses a new battery cells and test ingProductlaboratory.research at the centre will continue to fo cus on next-generation bat tery materials, including high-nickel NMC, low co balt NMC, manganese-rich chemistries as well as solidstate battery materials tech nology, Umicore said.

Miba acquires majority Voltlabor stake

Umicore’s executive vice president for energy and surface technologies, Ralph Kiessling, said: “This will enable us to continue to develop cathode materials that exceed customer ex pectations in terms of qual ity, reliability, safety and in novation.”InMay 2021, Umicore and BASF said they had signed a cross-licence agree ment to develop cathode materials and precursors in a wide range of battery chemistries based on nickel andThemanganese.chemistries named as in line for development were nickel manganese co balt, nickel cobalt alumini um, nickel manganese co balt aluminium and high manganese.

ENERGY STORAGE NEWS www.batteriesinternational.com Batteries International • Summer 2022 • 37

Energy Vault Holdings has broken ground on its first gravity-based energy stor age system in China, the company announced on MayEnergy5.

Eric Spomer, the CEO of privately held EnergySource Minerals, reportedly told Reuters: “This tax would stifle our industry before it even begins. We’re willing to pay and contribute to the local community, but it has to be a rational tax.”

California Li-tax law triggers battery materials supply alert CellCube brand owner Enerox said on May 5 it had launched a subsidiary in Colorado to take ad vantage of “exploding de mand” for long duration energy storage systems in the US market. The Austria-based vana dium redox flow battery (VRFB) company said it would target a range of services including support for renewable energy sup ply and microgrid appli cations.CEOof CellCube Aus tria and US, Alexander Schoenfeldt, said: “Be ing a global leader in this space, we are very en thusiastic about our new presence in North Amer ica, as it will allow us to build and use local supply chains and engage with our business and R&D partners in the US more easily.”CellCube was among the group of companies that formed the Long Duration Energy Storage Council in November 2021, with the stated aim of achieving grid net-zero by 2040. Last February, Enerox signed an expanded fiveyear supply agreement with electrolyte supplier, US Vanadium, for three million litres per year, to gether with a price cap over the five-year term. Schoenfeld said then that the agreement was part of the company’s “go-to-mar ket in North America” strategy using electrolyte that had been regionally processed within North America, “ensuring longterm deliverability at a competitive price”.

Powin BESS system earmarked for Idaho Power project

Vault said the 100MWh ‘EVx’ is being built next to a wind farm and national grid site in Rudong, near Shanghai, in partnership with Atlas Re newable and China Tiany ingThe(CNTY).launch of work in Rudong follows a $50 mil lion licensing agreement between Energy Vault, USbased Atlas Renewable — which supports companies in project dealings with Chi nese institutions and regu latory authorities — and CNTY, a Chinese environ mental services firm. Energy Vault uses a block tower system to store and release renewable energy from wind and solar opera tions. It uses surplus renew able energy to store power by constructing the tower with a crane. When demand rises, the crane unstacks the tower, producing kinetic en ergy by dropping the blocks so that they can turn genera tors and create electricity. Company chairman, cofounder and CEO Robert Piconi said: “Our first com mercial EVx deployment in China is a significant mile stone.“China is rapidly expand ing its use of renewable en ergy coupled with annual energy storage mandates in order to meet its decarbon ization goals. We are very pleased that EVx and our energy management soft ware platform have already received local regulatory en dorsement and is being de ployed now as a critical en abling technology to support China’s energy transition and carbon neu trality goals.”

Energy storage company Powin is set to provide 120MW/524MWh of bat tery storage, to come online next summer in the US state of Idaho, Idaho Power an nounced on May 2. The lithium iron phosphate ‘stack’ batteries are set to be the first utility-scale stor age systems in Idaho. They would help maintain reliable service during periods of high use, while furthering the company’s goal of providing 100% clean energy by 2045. Proposals for the Powin storage projects were filed in April with the Idaho Public Utilities Commission, which will determine whether the project is in the public inter est.If the project is approved, the batteries should come online by June 2023 across severalIdaholocations.Power senior vice president and chief operat ing officer Adam Richins said: “Not only are we add ing capacity to serve our cus tomers, but we are taking ad vantage of advancements in technology that will be key to our “Batteryfuture.storage enables us to use existing genera tion sources efficiently while setting the stage for more clean energy in the coming years.”

California is to slap a tax on lithium production in the state to generate cash to spend on environmental re mediation projects — amid warnings the move could disrupt the battery materi als supply chain and hit the state’s investments in energy storage and electric vehicle production.TheLithium Extraction Tax Law — part of a pack age of budget proposals signed off by state governor Gavin Newsom — will comprise a tax of $400 per tonne for the first 20,000 tonnes of lithium produced annually, $600 per tonne for the next 10,000 tonnes and $800 per tonne with output of 30,000 tonnes or more.The law comes into ef fect on January 1, 2023 and would affect projects such as lithium production in California’s so-called ‘lithium valley’ Salton Sea region.According to the bill, the aim is “to promote a robust California-based lithium extraction industry that considers the needs of the local communities where the lithium extraction occurs, while recognizing the significant benefit of having a domestic supply of lithium for the state’s goals for reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases”.

However, Controlled Thermal Resources, whose ‘Hell’s Kitchen Project’ at Salton Sea is set to recover lithium from geothermal brines using renewable energy and steam to pro duce battery grade lithium products, said the tax as it stands would “severely impact the development of ‘Lithium Valley’. CTR said: “Supporting a tax that ensures lithium imports from China are less expensive for auto manu facturers will devastate this promising Californian in dustry before it has begun.”

New CellCube unit in US targets VRFB business

Energy Vault starts work on China gravity-based ESS

The growth of e-mobility and renewable power will require many lithium-ion batteries. To feed this growing demand, cathode materi als production needs to follow suit. Meanwhile, efforts to improve bat tery performance will require higherquality cathode materials. Quality is not the only concern for cathode powder producers. They must also consider the need to make lithium-ion batteries sustainable and cost-effective. Cathode powder production equipment must therefore ensure the supply of consistently high-quality cathode materials.

• Low wear of mixing tools and mix ing chamber.

The first step in the cathode powder production process is the mixing of raw materials to create precursor ma terials, which are then further refined to produce the final cathode active material. This initial mixing step usually takes place in a mixer, such as the WBH single-shaft ploughshare mixer from MAP, a WAMGROUP division. MAP has supplied over 900 mixers to produce lithium-ion battery cath ode“Thispowders.allows us to offer effective solutions tailor-made for custom ers’ individual market conditions, requirements, recipe and process,” explained Roberto Neviani, MAP mixers Division Manager. MAP is also at the forefront of R&D in this field. The WBH ploughshare mixer for battery cathode materials The WBH mixer is a product of this commitment to innovation. It utilizes the principal of mechanical fluidiza tion to ensure effective blending of materials with different particle sizes and bulk densities, to high levels of precision, in the shortest possible timeframe (20-30 minutes). Other WBH mixer benefits include:

Cathode powder production equipment: the mixer

• Low energy consumption: drive unit power is just 75kW for a 3000-liter mixer.

COMPANY FOCUS: WAMGROUP 38 • Batteries International • Summer 2022 www.batteriesinternational.com

• Dustproof sealing prevents both ingress of contaminants and escape of any toxic particles.

WAM mixers for lithium battery production

• Easy product sampling via a dedicated inspection panel; easy to clean and maintain. In addition to the WBH plough share mixer, MAP also supplies the WBN ribbon blender for secondary mixing, as well as specialised bin ac tivators and butterfly valves, designed specifically for lithium-ion battery production. Prepared for the future WAMGROUP has already estab lished a separate production line for MAP mixers to quickly meet the ex pected increase in demand. And with its huge bank of experience, technical knowhow and commitment to part nership and innovation, Roberto said WAMGROUP is “well positioned for theTofuture”.findout more about how you can benefit from our mixing technol ogy, connect with our global network today. The need for lithium-ion battery cathode materials to power the growth of e-mobility and renewable power

• No increase of product temperature during mixing.

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The Boundiali plant BESS will comprise six of Saft’s lithium-based Intensium Max high energy contain ers, providing a total of 13.8 MWh of energy storage, to gether with power conver sion and medium voltage power station TotalEnergiessystems.said the BESS is scheduled for com missioning in September 2022. UK gigafactory developer Britishvolt announced on May 24 it had signed a sales purchase agreement to acquire German battery cells producer EAS Batter ies from the Monbat group, in a cash and shares deal worth €36 million (about $38Monbatmillion).CEO Viktor Spiriev said his company would “continue to be part of the expected growth of the lithium ion industry through the minority stake that the group will hold in Britishvolt”.“Webelieve Britishvolt is the right partner that has the necessary resources to become a leader in provid ing lithium ion solutions for electrified transporta tion and energy storage.”

TotalEnergies commissions second BESS in French deal

Australian renewables company Maoneng Group has been given the green light to connect its 240MW/480MWh bat tery energy storage sys tem to a grid substation in the state of Victoria. The company said on May 18 that the Aus tralian Energy Market Operator had given the go-ahead for grid connec tion of the lithium iron phosphate BESS, on the Mornington Peninsula, which is scheduled for completion in early 2024. The facility will be connected to Australian energy firm AusNet’s Tyabb substation in the southern part of the state’s grid, although no connection date was an nounced.Maoneng said the BESS, which represents “hundreds of millions of dollars of investment”, will draw and store energy from the grid dur ing off-peak periods and dispatch energy during peak periods, generating power for the equivalent of 40,000 average homes.

Britishvolt acquires EAS, agrees Bühler tech deal

ENERGY STORAGE NEWS www.batteriesinternational.com Batteries International • Summer 2022 • 39

CATL joins winners of EES awards in Germany

Company co-founder and CEO Morris Zhou said battery storage was “vital to the clean energy transition… this project is progressing at a time when demand for renew able energy and associ ated storage capacity is increasing, and we are seeing a lot more inter est in battery projects in Australia and interna tionally.”Inarelated move on May 1, unveiledMaonengdetailsof a proposed energy hub comprising a 550MWac solar farm Wales.BESS400MW/1,600MWhandinNewSouth

Britishvolt founder and CEO Orral Nadjari said the acquisition would al low the company to scale up the final part of its ‘46xx cell’ development and com mercialization program and “put this leading cell product in the hands of our automotive customers”. “Our 46xx cell format, developed as part of our wider R&D program, gives Britishvolt a significant competitive advantage in the battery race.” EAS has more than 25 years of experience in de veloping and producing large format cylindrical lithium-ion battery cells from 7.5Ah to 50Ah. Monbat, a predominantly lead battery manufacturer, acquired EAS in 2017. The sales and purchase agree ment for Britishvolt to acquire EAS is subject to various commercial and regulatory 2024,SeptemberuledproductionBritishvoltelectricwellenoughthepanded4.8GWh,firstelectrodeforBühlerland,gigaplant,batteryvelopersupplymanufacturersaidSeparately,approvals.BritishvoltonJune7thatSwissBühleristothegigafactorydewith“low-carbon”mixingtechnology.BritishvoltsaiditsfirstinNorthumberwilluselargescaleproductionlinesthemanufactureofslurriesforthego-to-marketphaseofwhichwillbeexto38GWhtowardsendofthedecade.Thiscorrespondstobatterycellsforinexcessof300,000vehiclesperyear,said.Britishvolt’sramp-upandlinesareschedtobecommissionedin2023andspringrespectively.

Grid AustraliangreenconnectionlightforBESS

Chinese battery giant Con temporary Amperex Tech nology (CATL) was among the winners of the 2022 an nual innovation prize at the Electrical Energy Storage (EES) exhibition in Munich, Germany, the organizers an nounced on May 10. CATL joined German in verter company STABL En ergy and second-life electric vehicle batteries firm Volt fang in receiving the award in the electrical energy stor ageEEScategory.saidCATL’s EnerOne LFP battery storage system, the STABL SI 100 modu lar multi-level converter and the Voltfang industrial commercial storage system, made from second-life car batteries, were all examples of innovative products with in the storage industry. The EES award was pre sented along with others for innovation from across the three other exhibitions held in conjunction with EES — Intersolar, Power2Drive and EM-Power.

TotalEnergies has commis sioned a 25MWh battery storage facility at its Car ling industrial site in northeastern France, the group said on May 9. The BESS comprises 11 lithium ion battery contain ers designed and assembled by TotalEnergies’ subsid iaryTheSaft.company has re vealed plans to launch a third BESS facility in France by the end of 2022, as it fi nalizes its portfolio of proj ects awarded by the French Electricity Network (RTE). Carling is the second BESS built under tenders awarded to TotalEnergies byTheRTE.energy company com missioned its first BESS for RTE, a 61MWh Dunkirk facility, last December. Carling, which is also home to two combined cycle gas turbine power plants, will be used to sta bilize the grid and to sup ply power during peaks in consumption, especially in winter.Meanwhile, Saft said on May 11 that it had won a contract to supply a 10MW BESS to provide capacity and firming and smooth ing for what will be Côte d’Ivoire’s first solar plant.

ENERGY STORAGE NEWS IN BRIEF 40 • Batteries International • Summer 2022 www.batteriesinternational.com

SolarEdge opens Korea gigaplant SolarEdge Technologies announced the opening of a 2GWh battery cells manufacturing plant in South Korea on May 25 to meet growing demand for battery Israel-headquarteredstorage.

The agreement enables the companies to use each other’s patented technology “based on recognition of the companies’ overall innovation capability”, the firms said in a joint However,statement.thecompanies said specific terms of the deal would remain confidential.

SolarEdge CEO Zvi Lando said the new facility “allows us to own key processes in the development and manufacturing of advanced energy storage solutions for our solar core business and additional applications, while further securing the resilience of our supply chain”.

SolarEdge and its lithium ion batteries subsidiary, Kokam, said the Sella 2 facility, in Chungcheongbuk-Do, is producing test cells for certification, with rampup to happen the second half of his year.Sella 2 will eventually enable SolarEdge to have its own supply of lithium ion batteries and the infrastructure to develop new battery cell chemistries and technologies, the company said. The facility is planned to manufacture battery cells for SolarEdge’s residential solar-attached batteries, as well as battery cells for applications including stationary energy storage and UPS systems.

CTR’s ‘Hell’s Kitchen Project’ in California’s Imperial County will recover lithium from geothermal brines using renewable energy and steam to produce battery grade lithium products in an integrated, closed-loop process, eliminating the need for evaporation brine ponds, open pit mines, and fossil-fuelled processing, Stellantis said.

Samsung SDI and Stellantis to invest $2.5bn in JV Italian-French auto firm Stellantis and Samsung SDI are to invest more than $2.5 billion in their joint venture lithium ion gigafactory in the US, the companies confirmed on May 24.The partners announced the formation of the joint venture on October 18, 2021. They expect an initial annual production capacity at their facility in Indiana of 23GWh, with an aim to increase it up to 33GWh.Construction will start later this year with production beginning in the first quarter of 2025. The new plant will use Samsung SDI’s PRiMX technology to produce electric vehicle battery cells and modules for the North American market.Inarelated announcement on June 2, Stellantis said it had signed a binding offtake agreement with Controlled Thermal Resources for supplies of battery grade lithium hydroxide for use in the production of North American EVs.

Vistra switches on DeCordova BESS Texas-based energy company Vistra confirmed on May 23 that its battery energy storage facility at DeCordova, the largest of its kind in the state, had becomeInverteroperational.andenergy storage provider Sungrow supplied the lithium ion battery technology and inverters for the 260MW/260MWh BESS.Vistra said DeCordova, first announced in September 2020, is the second of seven new “zero-carbon projects” the company is bringing online in Texas over the next few years — representing a capital investment of nearly $1 billion by the company within Ercot (the Electric Reliability Council of Texas grid system).Construction of the facility started in June 2021 and finished in less than a Vistrayear. president and chief financial officer Jim Burke said: “This battery system can provide instantaneous full power to the grid with the flip of a switch, but it is also co-located on the same site as our quick-start DeCordova natural gas-fuelled power plant.“This pairing means we have a large, one-hour battery system with dispatchable, reliable generation, leading to continuity of operation and resiliency of the grid.” According to Vistra, the energy storage facility comprises more than 3,000 individual battery modules that can store enough electricity to power around 130,000 average Texan homes during normal grid conditions.Thebatteries capture excess electricity from the grid, primarily overnight during high wind-output hours, and can release the power when demand is highest. On January 6 last year, Vistra switched on the largest lithium ion battery storage facility in the world, the 300MW/1,200MWh Moss Landing facility in California. Invinity appoints advisers for US investments Vanadium redox flow technology company Invinity Energy Systems announced on May 18 it had appointed a corporate advisory team to expand its presence in US commercial and financial markets. Invinity said EAS Advisors’ initial focus would be on increasing the level of US investor activity for Invinity — working with the company’s joint brokers Canaccord Genuity and VSA Capital. The move aims to capitalize on Invinity’s status as “one of very few energy storage companies with nonlithium batteries advanced enough that customers have connected them to the grid and are using them to earn revenue”, Invinity said. CEO Larry Zulch said: “Invinity is well positioned to continue growing our leadership position in longduration non-lithium energy storage in three of the world’s most exciting markets — the UK, Australia and NorthSeparately,America.”Invinity said on April 22 that the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) had taken delivery of 48 Invinity VS3 modules for a tidal-plus-flow battery project in the Orkney Islands, in the north of Scotland.Themodules, assembled at Invinity’s Bathgate facility in Scotland, have a combined capacity of 1.8MWh. They are undergoing final installation and commissioning. Invinity’s system will be used in combination with tidal power to support EMEC’s hydrogen production plant. The battery will smooth the power from the tidal generation to ensure the 670kW hydrogen electrolysers have a stable and continuous power load to optimize production, Invinity said.

Separately, SolarEdge confirmed on May 20 that it had agreed on a global patent licensing arrangement with China’s Huawei that ends lawsuits pending between the companies in Germany and China.

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First phase of China 200MW flow battery on the grid The first phase of a planned 200MW/800MWh vanadium redox flow battery energy storage system has been connected to the grid in China, the China Energy Storage Alliance (CNESA) reported on July 19. CNESA said the 100MW/400MWhinitialsystem in Dalian achieved grid connection on May 24 after six years of planning, construction and commissioning, at a total investment cost of Rmb1.9 billion ($281 million). The eventual total cost of the project will be around Rmb3.8 billion.CNESA said Dalian Rongke Energy Storage Technology Development is providing the VRFB storage systems — using technology developed by the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy ofInSciences.arelated move, CNESA reported that China’s National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration set out plans on June 7 that allow “new energy storage technologies” to play a greater role in the national electricity market. The notice issued by the agencies offers financial incentives for “independent power storage sites” to feed power to the grid. PGE unveils plans for 200MW Poland BESS Polish state energy firm PGE has received a preliminary licence from regulators to build a 200MW battery storage facility in the country as part of a commercial hybrid energy storage (CHEST) project, the company said on July 20. PGE did not disclose investment costs or the proposed schedule for the lithium ion project — for which it said it is applying for funding in Europe and “looking for business partners to co-finance the investment”.However,the company said the battery facility would have a nominal capacity of up to 205MW/820MWh and would be integrated with the 716MW Zarnowiec pumped storage power station in northern Poland, creating a “921MW innovative hybrid installation with a capacity of over 4.6GWh”.Thefacility will have the capacity to supply power to around 200,000 homes (with an average load of 5kW per household) for at least five hours, PGE said. PGE said: “CHEST may also prove helpful in increasing the energy security of Poland and the Baltic States.“Itwill also have an impact on the competitiveness of energy markets and the synchronization of the Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian power systems with the system of continental Europe through the Harmony Link project, which is an electricity interconnector between Lithuania and Poland. The link will connect the Lithuanian and Polish electricity system via a 330km submarine cable between the Zarnowiec and Dorbian substations inPGELithuania.”chiefexecutive officer Wojciech Dabrowski said the firm’s energy storage goal was to have 800MW of installed capacity in Poland by 2030. Secondary Battery Industry (zinc-, copper-, brass-free) the last market (e.g. 75 kW on 3,000-litre mixer)

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Toyota Tsusho in pilot BESS plan with e-Zinc Toronto-based e-Zinc said on June 1 it had signed a demonstration project agreement with Toyota Tsusho Canada (TTCI) for further testing of its zinc-air battery storage systems.

Coetzee said the move “aligns perfectly with the company’s strategy to become a significant presence in the long duration energy storage market and sets up an additional potential revenue stream for Kibo”. The announcement came after Kibo, which is also focused on UK projects, signed an agreement on May 17 with vanadium redox flow battery brand, CellCube, to open a “gigawatt-sized pipeline” of energy storage in South Africa.

Kibo Energy plans long duration ESS for South Africa Kibo Energy unveiled plans on May 30 to develop more than 36,000MWh of long duration energy storage capacity in South Africa working with Hasta Trust. Kibo will acquire a 51% stake in Hasta’s wholly-owned National Broadband Solutions (NBS), in exchange for granting NBS exclusive access to Kibo energy storage systems for market sectors of interest to the firm’sKiboprojects.CEOLouis

JMBM Canada includes the 2,400 tonne per annum capacity lithium iron phosphate (LFP) production facility at Candiac in Quebec and a team with more than 360 years of collective experience including in-pilot to commercial-scale cathode production, Nano One said. The transaction, which Nano One said is fully funded and on a cashfree, debt-free basis, subject to certain working capital adjustments, should close by the end of the year.

Kona Energy gets approval for UK 200MW BESS Planning permission has been granted to build a 200MW battery energy storage facility in the UK, developer Kona Energy announced on May 26. A Kona spokesperson told BI the lithium iron phosphate facility in Heysham, Lancashire, would have a capacity of up to 400MWh and is expected to enter commercial operation in 2024. Kona said the role of the facility would be increasingly important in providing local grid services in the form of inertia and reactive power support, following the scheduled closure of nuclear power plants in Heysham in 2024 and 2028. Kona founder Andy Willis said: “Roughly £1 billion ($1.3 billion) was spent in the last year curtailing energy from wind farms and other generators, replacing that need elsewhere — usually from fossilfuelled“Tacklingstations.this enormous waste of money and energy is crucial. Further battery storage facilities will reduce thisWillisburden.”saidthe new BESS was important because the project is connecting to what the UK power industry refers to as the ‘B7a constraint boundary’. The B7a is one of the most constrained areas in the UK, where wind farms and other low carbon technologies are regularly curtailed. As these constraint costs rise, projects like this are essential to relieving network congestion and reducing unnecessary waste. Minerals group ICL forms ESS unit Israel-based minerals company ICL said on May 27 it planned an expansion of its products and services with the launch of a new business unit focused on the energy storage market. The dedicated energy storage solutions unit follows ICL’s entry into the lithium iron phosphate battery market in China last year. ICL said it is looking to expand its presence beyond its existing speciality products used in cathode active materials and in bromide-based batteries.ICL’sexecutive vice president and chief innovation and technology officer, Anantha Desikan (pictured), said the company was committed to expanding in the broader battery market in Europe and the US.

ENERGY STORAGE NEWS IN BRIEF 42 • Batteries International • Summer 2022 www.batteriesinternational.com

Nano One CEO Dan Blondal said: “Experienced employees are at the core of this deal and will help fasttrack Nano One’s learning curve.”

Nano One to acquire Johnson Matthey Battery Materials Canada Nano One said on May 25 it had agreed a C$10.25 million ($8 million) deal to acquire Johnson Matthey Battery Materials Canada. The move comes after Johnson Matthey said last November that it intended to sell all, or parts of, its battery materials business.

The pilot project, expected to start in the spring of 2023, aims to validate e-Zinc’s capability to store 24 hours of energy, the company said.

James Larsen, e-Zinc CEO, said: “This project sets the stage for TTCI to support e-Zinc with manufacturing and supply chain capabilities, sales, and distribution support, as well as project deployment and service for a variety of market applications.”

The Candiac production facility was acquired by Johnson Matthey in 2015 and has been in operation since 2012. It supplies LFP cathode material to the lithium ion battery sector for automotive and nonautomotive applications. Liam Condon, CEO of Johnson Matthey, said: “We have worked with Nano One on a number of projects over the last year and having seen their innovations, we believe they have the potential to develop the Candiac site in the best way possible.”OnFebruary 15, Nano One said it had successfully completed the first phase of an advanced lithium ion battery cathode materials coating development agreement with Brazilbased niobium supplier CBMM.

“This new unit has established dedicated battery resources at three of our global R&D centers and research includes exploring battery end-of-life recycling,” Desikan said. “We are also investigating ways to advance energy storage and battery performance, and we continue to explore capacity expansions, partnerships and other types of collaborations, as part of these efforts.”

The project will be based at Eurus Energy America Corporation’s Bull Creek wind facility in Texas. Excess wind generation capacity will be stored in the storage system and then used to power buildings at BullTheCreek.system is expected to store power for 24 hours, “an order of magnitude longer than typical batteries and better suited to the intermittency of wind generation than typical batteries”, e-Zinc said.

On April 7, e-Zinc announced it had secured $25 million in a series ‘A’ financing to start pilot production of its first commercial zinc-air energy storage systems.

KORE Power battery tech chosen for new BESS in UK KORE Power said on June 8 it had been selected to supply its battery technology for a 10MW/20MWh lithium ion BESS being developed in the UK by ABB. The US-based battery cell tech company will provide its Mark 1 storage modules equipped with high energy density NMC pouch technology for the facility, which will be installed at renewable energy company Ecotricity’s existing 6.9MW wind farm in Gloucestershire in 2023.The BESS will use Ecotricity’s proprietary ‘Smart Grid’ platform to dispatch stored electricity according to system needs, KORE said. Mark Meyrick, head of smart grids at Ecotricity, said: “We’ve been working towards our first grid scale battery as we’ve been developing our Smart Grid platform and we’re looking forward to taking this next step with ABB. “This project is a first for us and will enable us to manage demand for renewable energy, as well as develop a greater understanding of the deployment of storage for flexibility requirements.”OnMarch23, KORE said it had acquired energy storage company Northern Reliability for an undisclosed sum — and had launched a new division called KORE Solutions. Leclanché confirms liquidity funding Swiss energy storage group Leclanché has negotiated conditions with “different stakeholders” to secure Sfr15 million ($15.5 million) funding for near-term liquidity requirements and can remain a going concern until June 2023, the company said on June 6. The announcement came after the company warned on February 24 that liquidity remained tight ahead of a merger of its e-mobility business with a US-listed special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Leclanché said then it had secured a Sfr20.4 million bridging loan from the SPAC’s largest shareholder, SEFAM, to run its operations ahead of the merger. In terms of the merger, Leclanché said on June 6 that, in its view, the due diligence process had been completed and it expects to start the negotiation for the merger agreement. In the interim, the company has started talks with other SPACs on its shortlist “to ensure a competitive biddingMeanwhile,process”.“direct confidential discussions with a few major industrial companies for a strategic investment in Leclanché E-Mobility” are also underway, as the company works to “fully fund business requirements through 2024”. However, the company warned “worldwide supply chains issues continue to impact near-term business delivery capability with intermittent production”. In a related move, Leclanché said Jean-François Stenger had been promoted to the post of deputy chief financial officer and would be acting as CFO until further notice.

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ENERGY STORAGE NEWS IN BRIEF www.batteriesinternational.com Batteries International • Summer 2022 • 43

50 years of engineering excellence

Recycling equipment specialist Dross Engineering celebrates half-century of global service

COMPANY FOCUS: DROSS ENGINEERING 44 • Batteries International • Summer 2022 www.batteriesinternational.com

Breaker machine installed in Thailand Kaldo new electric furnace

Not many companies can trace their roots back to events that shaped their country’s history — and one of the world’s iconic landmarks too — but France-based Dross Engineering can. The origins of Dross date back to 1959, when the current president of the company, Jean Armabessaire, joined Aprosider — a subsidiary of the then Pompey steelworks in Nancy — where Armabessaire dealt, in particular, with refractory bricks intended for blast furnaces and the open-hearth Siemens-Martin furnace. Pompey’s claim to fame was that it made the steel that was used to manufacture the Eiffel Tower. In 1970, Armabessaire’s father, the owner of a recycling company, asked his son for a solution to recover aluminium from car engines without dismantling them by hand. Given the temperature differences between iron or aluminium, the question arose about using a furnace and, one year later, that process was deployed to establish the first deironing furnace, where aluminium was successfully separated from iron.

Jean Armabessaire launched his company in 1972, supplying an ini tial 10 hearth furnaces to clients. Now Dross is celebrating 50 years of service as a trusted manufacturer of furnaces and specialized equip ment for the recycling of non-ferrous metals.Today, the company is as vibrant and innovative as the early years, having switched its focus to engineer ing studies, technical designs and components manufacturing together with machine assembly and testing, which is conducted with industry partners.Forthe past 20 years, Dross’ activ ity has focused exclusively on the recycling of non-ferrous metals and in particular the recycling of batter ies. The company offers four distinct types of recycling lines at competitive prices and equipment for the manage ment of zinc or cuprous aluminium scrap.Dross employs a workforce of just 20, but it continues to have a global impact and a proud reputation for quality. The company is present on all continents and has delivered a to tal of 893 installations in France and 520 machine projects around the rest of the world over the past 50 years. Dross has developed several pro cesses and technology over the years, from the first dry hearth furnace to building the first energy recovery furnaces and the first tilting rotary furnace with gravity casting and breaking lines for old batteries using desulphurisation.In2022,Drosslaunched a new furnace for the recovery of lead from dross. The furnace operates in a reducing atmosphere using grav ity casting. The company offers an electrically-heated version for the recovery of tin. Most recently Dross was an nounced as the supplier of the foundry for a new lead recycling unit in Tunisia for battery maker Nour, which is now 60% owned by Monbat.

Jean Armabessaire says: “After 50 years of service to a myriad of industries, including the batteries sector, we look forward to developing the services that will be required to power global industries forward into the 22nd century.”

ANALYSIS: CRU 46 • Batteries International • Summer 2022 www.batteriesinternational.com

The nominal lead capacity at Stol berg is 140,000-150,000 tonnes a year, but Hawkes says that’s nominal capacity — “which they’ve not been anywhere near to for many years”.

However, the ‘twist’ in the deal for Trafigura could be that Stolberg can treat some of the residues and slag that come from the group’s zinc smelters in Europe.

European smelter deal set to have global impact

“In that sense, it’s a good fit for Trafigura because they can integrate the Stolberg smelter more closely with their three zinc smelters,” says Hawkes.Laterdown the line, this could see Trafigura become as much of a sil ver refiner as a lead refiner, basically treating complex mined lead/silver concentrates and looking to improve the recoveries of silver at the expense ofHawkeslead. also points out that refined lead production at Stolberg had been in decline even before the plant was knocked out by the floods.

CRU’s estimation is a lot closer to around 100,000-110,000 tonnes a year. ‘Smelters need energy too’ Nevertheless, he says “it’s still a big number and still one of the main rea sons why the European lead market has been so tight over the last year”. But with industry commentators hearing that Trafigura itself has been short in lead supply in Europe, why keep Stolberg in mothballs for any longer than necessary? “As they’re also a trader, they’ve probably got half an eye on contract negotiations for the next year and trying to maintain some healthy pre mium,” Hawkes says. “On top of that, energy prices are high and will probably rise even more during the autumn and winter in Europe as a result of the war in Ukraine.”Andwhile Stolberg is not as big a

A restart of Germany’s Stolberg lead plant under new owner Trafigura could be delayed by Europe’s energy crisis, but when it does reopen, CRU lead analyst Neil Hawkes says a key decision will be whether to drip-feed lead into the European market or feed more to the US.

Once the acquisition of Ecobat Re sources Stolberg (which owns the Stol berg multi-metals processing plant) is finalized, Stolberg will be operated by Trafigura’s multi-metals mining and smelting subsidiary Nyrstar — which has to date declined to be drawn on its ambitions for the site.

One interesting thing about Trafigu ra buying Stolberg is that they are first and foremost a trader that happens to produces metal rather than a pro ducer that trades metal, says Hawkes. Asset disposal plans Trafigura already has three zinc smelt ers through Nyrstar in Europe, plus the Port Pirie lead smelter in Austra lia, so the group is no stranger to the sector.Butwhat prompted Ecobat to sell? Hawkes reckons that: “Stolberg was the easiest to sell first in any broader asset disposal plans of Ecobat’s pri vate equity group owners, Golden Tree Asset Management, because it is the only primary smelter they have and is pretty much a standalone asset. “It does not integrate too much with their other secondary lead operations around Europe, although my under standing is it did treat some of the battery paste from some of their dedi cated secondary smelters.”

The ‘twist’ in the deal for Trafigura could be that Stolberg can treat some of the residues and slag that come from the group’s zinc smelters in Europe

Trafigura ended months of specula tion about the future of the German lead production plant, Stolberg, when the multinational announced early in July it was buying the facility from Ecobat, in a deal that should be com pleted in the third-quarter of this year.

Nyrstar told Batteries Ingternation al exclusively on July 21 that there would be a “continuous assessment” of the potential for future investment in the site, which has been out of ac tion since declaring force majeure in July 2021 after the devasting floods in Europe.When Nyrstar does formally take up control, its “first priority will be the execution of the current business strategy for the Stolberg business”. Nyrstar did not say what that strat egy entails, but CRU lead analyst Neil Hawkes says Ecobat has clearly had to invest a great deal of money, time and effort into getting the smelter back to the point where it can be restarted. “My understanding is they’ve com pletely relined the furnace, so when it does restart the going should be quite smooth,” says Hawkes. “As I understand it, Stolberg was go ing to be ready for a restart by the end of July 2022, but it’s unlikely the re start of the smelter will happen before the acquisition is finalized.”

Meanwhile, Hawkes says the Euro pean market has grown accustomed to the cut-off in Russian lead supplies which have virtually dried up as a re sult of sanctions. In 2021, about 50% of Russian refined lead exports went to Europe — around 55,000 tonnes last year according to CRU data — and a third of the remainder went to Asian Stolberg site photo from Ecobat Nyrstar Port Pirie smelting operation

There is an argument — and I’m not saying it’s my view — that Trafigura might keep Stolberg shut for the rest of this year in the hope that the spike in energy prices starts to fall in the spring

gas guzzler as a zinc or aluminium smelter, lead smelters need energy too — and the Russia-Ukraine hostilities have already set alarm bells ring ing over stability of energy supplies across“GermanyEurope.has already moved to level two on the so-called ‘alert level’ of its emergency gas supply planning, so there is concern that if the govern ment asks industrial users to start rationing it could all get incredibly messy,” says Hawkes. “So, there is an argument — and I’m not saying it’s my view — that Trafig ura might keep Stolberg shut for the rest of this year in the hope that the spike in energy prices starts to fall in the spring. But that’s a big assump tion, because the view now is that the Ukraine war is entrenched and no one sees an end to it anytime soon. “Even if some political solution emerges, Western sanctions are likely to remain in place for a long time.”

ANALYSIS: CRU www.batteriesinternational.com Batteries International • Summer 2022 • 47

Lithium, by contrast, is not a very green story despite the hype over‘clean mobility, says Hawkes. “The lithium battery is supposed to be part of the green story, yet they still need to keep digging up the ground for fresh raw materials to feed the huge surge in lithium battery demand, with battery recycling in its infancy.“Lead battery recycling tends to go under investors’ radars as it quietly just meets a battery industry need for lead in a long established and efficient closed loop cycle.”

“All of the scrap that is available to the market is getting recycled and sec ondary lead accounts for two-thirds or so of global refined lead produc tion, so it’s a continuing green supply success story for lead.”

On the global picture, the Interna tional Lead and Zinc Study Group said in April that world supply of re fined lead metal exceeded demand last year — but Hawkes questions wheth er that will continue during this year.

One interesting thing about Trafigura buying Stolberg is that they are first and foremost a trader that happens to produces metal rather than a producer that trades metal

This year’s refined lead market is therefore more finely balanced be cause of the surplus in China/Asia and shortages in the US and Europe, so the rest of the world has become very reli ant on Chinese exports as we’ve gone through this year, Hawkes says. Nevertheless, he says lead has a strong story to tell in terms of its availability, recyclability and environ mental credentials.

countries, which Hawkes says raises the question of whether more Russian lead is now heading east to Asia.

“We are crunching our numbers now, so I can’t give an exact figure, but generally the surplus has shrunk globally this year because there was a strong rebound outside China which had big issues with Covid and further lockdowns in the second quarter of this year. These came on the back of the already weak picture there.”

ANALYSIS: CRU 48 • Batteries International • Summer 2022 www.batteriesinternational.com

Key questions for Trafigura Does that imply batteries made with Russian lead could eventually find their way into the European and other Western markets, thereby skirting around EU sanctions? “For sure that remains a possibility,” says Hawkes. “Once the lead has gone over the Russian border to China and countries in the Middle East or wher ever, it could be converted into batter ies and come in that way. Russia’s lead supply can’t be traced like that. “We keep hearing that the Asian lead market is quite weak, flat and de mand is not strong, so certainly Asia (including China) does not need to hang on to any more lead from Russia as those countries have plenty them selves.”Meanwhile Europe, which did ex port some lead batteries to Russia before the invasion, is not doing that now — which frees up more batteries for the internal market. Hawkes says: “In the future the key questions for Europe are when will Stolberg reopen and what will Trafigura do with the lead? Will they drip feed it into the European market and not impact premiums too much? Or will they feed more of it to the US market, where there is a much stron ger need for more lead and where Trafigura also has a presence? “The other big question for Europe is what happens to lead and battery demand while the path we are set on today seems to be leading to slower economic growth, if not outright re cession in many parts of Europe? That will clearly have an impact on senti ment and the broader metals mar kets.”Interms of lead, Hawkes’ view is that we could see some impact in the OE battery automotive and industrial lead battery sectors as consumers cut back on spending and steer away from investing in new cars. However, this means demand in the replacement battery market should hold up quite nicely as consumers continue using existing vehicles and simply replace lead batteries when re quired.“That of course creates scrap, which goes into the secondary chain and does not drive new demand, but it certainly helps support lead in a way other metals are not supported — and that is why other metals industries are starting to really worry about the impact on demand of a recession and high energy prices in Europe.” And if energy prices do spike through the autumn or winter, that might turn attention back to zinc smelters and maybe associated lead smelters, Hawkes says. Ecobat recently announced it was extending the traditional summer shutdowns of its two Italian second ary lead smelters from two weeks to the whole of August. The company said this was because of the energy crises and other infla tionary raw material costs. Hawkes believes low LME lead prices also in fluenced Ecobat’s decision. Global lead outlook The company will now decide about whether the Italian plants will return to operation in September at the end of August. Hawkes thinks they will be back in operation in September but says there is no 100% guarantee. “Italy tends to have higher energy costs and higher scrap prices than other parts of Europe, so that com bination may also have influenced Ecobat’s decision, as well as making a statement to the wider market to the effect of ‘lead smelters are suffer ing too — it’s not just about zinc and aluminium smelters’.”

LISA technology is a promising candidate to ensure the highest safety for energy storage systems and electric vehicles, where high energy density is greatly in demand.

www.vmt.com.tw | jim@vmt.com.tw

ANALYSIS: VOLTA MATERIALS TECHNOLOGY www.batteriesinternational.com Batteries International • Summer 2022 • 49

reactive polymers, which are LISA (lithium-ion battery safety assured), can be easily coated on to cathode ac tive material pellets for explosion-free lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) with desir able high capacity and energy density. LISA polymer possesses residual re active functional groups for second ary polymerization initiated by the high temperature environment during the thermal runaway process in LIBs. This will reinforce the crosslinked net work structure of the polymer coating on the cathode active material particle surface — in turn greatly reducing the probability of thermal runaway. In this work, two series of pouch cells comprise NCM 622 and graphite as the major materials in the cathode and anode respectively. The first series (5 cells) had a capac ity of 32.44+ 0.15 Ah and an energy density of 229.34+ 0.16 Wh/kg. The second series (6 cells) had a ca pacity of 34.61+ 0.11 Ah and an en ergy density of 231.24+ 0.24 Wh/kg. Among these cells, one cell (34.57 Ah, 231.00 Wh/kg) and another cell (34.65 Ah, 231.20 Wh/kg) were stored at room temperature for peri ods of one month and two months, respectively, before undergoing nail punch testing. In addition, one cell (34.65 Ah, 231.40 Wh/kg) was assembled using electrodes aged for one month and exposed to the atmosphere for one three-hour period during storage. Before the nail punch test, the cells were fully charged from 2.8 to 4.3 V (state of charge = 100%) at 0.2C-rate. Note that the pass rate for all 11 cells wasFor100%.example, the cell (34.67 Ah, 231.30 Wh/kg) passed the nail punch test (see top left of image shown be low), evidenced by very stable temper ature on the cell surface and voltage vs. time profiles during the test (bot tom left of However,image).thereference LIB that did not contain the LISA polymer (9.00 Ah, 229.2 Wh/kg) instantly caught fire and exploded while undergoing the nail punch test (top right of im age).Based on our experience, it is ex tremely difficult to impart satisfactory safety to NCM 622-based cells with energy density exceeding 230 Wh/kg without detriment to the cell cycle life. For cycling performance at room temperature, the discharge capacity retention decreases slowly with in creasing number of cycles, and it is 87.6% at the 1,000th cycle (bottom right of image). The cell is expected to maintain a capacity retention close to 80% at the 2,000th cycle by extrapolation. This result strongly suggests that the LISA technology is capable of impart ing high safety to NCM 622-based LIBs with an energy density around 230 Wh/kg, while maintaining satis factory cycling performance at room temperature.Wetherefore believe that VMT’s LISA technology is a promising candi date to ensure the highest safety for energy storage systems and electric ve hicles, where high energy density is greatly in demand. For further information about VMT please visit www.vmt.com.tw or email to jim@vmt.com.tw

Polymer technology rises to Li-battery safety challenge

Volta Materials Technology’s (VMT)

Dr Thomas Pham and Dr James Chern, of Volta Materials Technology, present the results of research into using the company’s reactive polymer technology for explosion-proof lithium-ion batteries with high energy density.VMT’s

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The lead battery business — and its counterpart lithium too — need to consider the implications of Europe’s desperate need for long duration energy storage. That requirement is going to throw flow battery technology to the fore.

COVER STORY: FLOW BATTERIES www.batteriesinternational.com Batteries International • Summer 2022 • 51

Could the economic case for flow batteries now be compelling? Some in the energy storage industry — admittedly proponents of the technology — are now saying that it is. They say that despite the high and volatile price of vanadium as an electrolyte, VRFB technology is cheaper in the long run than batteries (see related features in this section). Others are saying that other chemistries such as ESS’s iron bromine flow batteries bring a cheap electrolyte to the table and will soon radically change any market for long duration storage.Andif that’s the case other sectors of the industry should be starting to get worried.Thatmeans other technologies vying for attention and investment in the increasingly-crowded energy storage space — not least the lead battery industry — need to be on their guard.

Many of the dreamers in the industry are talking about the creation of gigaflow-battery-factories. Although it is easy to dismiss this talk as the reveries of frustrated engineers, there is a hard economic base to this. It is perfectly possible to create a medium sized flow battery manufacturing facility for as little as $50 million. Most of the manufacturing for such a plant requires little beyond regular process engineering — this is all a far cry from a gigafactory’s multi-billion dollar price tag and its need for hyperclean rooms, precision ovens, furnaces, laser processing, finishing rooms, formation cells and all the high-tech wizardry needed to make a lithium battery.Add to this the fact that flow batteries can be built using low-cost and readily available materials, are scalable and have the ability to partner with applications with power ratings of watts to megawatts. In terms of the incremental cost of expanding storage capacity, reflected in the cost of tanks and electrolyte, flowbattery protagonists can point out that the overall cost of a long duration battery is lower than for other battery types.The question from here on in will be: why choose an energy storage system based on, for example, lead batteries, which have to be replaced every few years, when LDES systems such as flow batteries do not? That is the question that will have to be addressed by the lead battery industry, which can of course have a role to play in the energy storage technologies mix. Clearly lead, lithium and others will need to keep a careful eye on the upstart competitor looming in the rearview mirror because the energy storage landscape is changing fast.

The European Union is looking for new energy champions faster than it could possibly have imagined at the start of the year. It has been stung into action by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent threat of alreadyreduced gas supplies from Russia being halted completely ahead of winter.

“Long duration energy storage is high on the political agenda and as the European Commission has never really looked kindly on lead — mostly out of ignorance — flow batteries could be the next go-to option after lithium, says one Companiescommentator”.suchasRedflow have been nipping at lead’s heels for years in the telecoms infrastructure space and have established a foothold for flow batteries there. Just weeks ago, the US energy secretary toured the Oregon facility of iron flow battery company ESS, just hours after the Senate approved draft legislation earmarking billions of dollars to tackle climate change, with tax credits for investment in battery storage.TheCEO of vanadium energy storage business Bushveld Energy, Mikhail Nikomarov, who was among those taking part in the IFBF conference, said afterwards that the fact delegates spent time discussing issues such as future regulations and standardization in terms of stack sizing and battery design was “a sign of an industry maturing”.

“All of this is a massive step forward from five years ago,” Nikomarov said. He is right — and battery technologies already competing in the energy storage landscape should prepare for battle.

Add to this the lead business is already under siege from the huge volumes of lithium cells now being sold and slowly replacing or usurping its traditional markets. (This is all the more worrying given the way, just a decade ago, how disparaging the lead battery industry was about the possibilities for lithium.) Some of the language, perhaps a better word is hyperbole, being used in the industry is comparable to those of Elon Musk. But there is a rationale behind it. CellCube, for example, announced in May that it had signed a “gigawatt-sized pipeline” of energy storage projects for South Africa.

Clear and present danger

Under siege: Other technologies vying for attention and investment in the increasingly-crowded energy storage space — not least the lead battery industry — need to be on their guard.

We need a flow batteries Musk!

Flow Batteries Europe secretary general Anthony Price says the industry needs more entrepreneurial zeal to keep it in the spotlight and renew interest in the technology. Australia needed energy storage in size. “Musk just said ‘I’ll build you a 100MW battery; by such and such a date and did just that.”

There was a mood of optimism as delegates gathered for the International Flow Battery Forum in June — a feeling the industry was at last on the move and making headway. Just weeks before, CellCube announced a ‘gigawatt’ pipeline agreement for Africa. There were other optimistic signs of action in the sector. (See our news pages at the end of this section.) But this needed to be taken to the next level, “We need a flow batteries Musk!” said Flow Batteries Europe secretary general Anthony Price. Elon Musk made his mark in battery storage three years ago, when Australia needed energy storage in size. “Musk just said ‘I’ll build you a 100MW battery; by such and such a date and did just that,” Price says. “That project wasn’t easy but he had the opportunity, he went for it — and in doing so, he set a benchmark which effectively said to everyone: ‘Catch me if you can’.”

The IFBF conference itself, the 11th in-person conference in Brussels, was hosted by Flow Batteries Europe (FBE) — established by 16 flow battery stakeholders in April 2021 — and debated what comes next for the industry.IFBF,which launched in 2010, is a conference series rather than a trade association.InFebruary,

COVER STORY: FLOW BATTERIES | INTERVIEW: ANTHONY PRICE 52 • Batteries International • Summer 2022 www.batteriesinternational.com

11 European and national associations including FBE signed a letter calling on European legislators to support long duration energy storage as a key step toward achieving carbon neutrality and keeping energy prices stable and affordable.FBEsaid the industry was ready to expand development of flow batteries, but needed “a signal” of support from legislators.Pricesaid the FBE welcomed the proposed EU Batteries Regulation and the Battery Passport — an electronic identifier of products to help ensure ethical and sustainability credentials — but excluding flow batteries from the key obligations of the Battery Passport could endanger the competitiveness of the battery value chain and derail decarbonisation goals.All energy storage technologies need to be allowed to complete on a level playing field for the proposals to work, he However,said.in terms of the Batteries Regulation, Price said it was written “without a sniff” of flow batteries in it, “almost to the point of excluding theTotechnology”.makeheadway in Europe, Price said organizations need to show they are part of a group representing European business interests. FBE includes extra-European members who see opportunities to be involved in EU projects that can act as a precursor for other parts of the world. To a certain extent, he says, it’s easier to argue your case with the European Commission, representing a bloc of 27 countries in one go, rather than holding one-to-one talks with nations. The first objective with the Commission is to make sure flow battery research is given equal priority to other emerging energy technologies, he says. “This can very easily be overlooked either through poor drafting of policy or deliberate or accidental omission.” That said, Price says flow battery firms have had some “helpful” discussions with policy chiefs, both in terms of the Batteries Regulation and Batteries Passport. “The former Batteries Directive did need updating and it was obviously going to be looking at the role of lithium batteries and so most attention was given to that.”But whatever form the Batteries Regulation takes when it finally becomes law, the flow battery industry will be up for having an early review, PriceThesays.future of flow batteries discussed at the conference was set against the backdrop of Europe’s urgent need to establish secure energy supplies, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “We need huge amounts of long duration storage,” says Price and there’s a compelling argument for flow battery gigafactories — and that requires finance. “Look at the amount of money that is swishing around ready to be invested in battery projects. There’s some £600 million ($750 million) across funds in the City of London that are looking for battery projects to invest in. “The equipment needed to get a flow battery manufacturing facility up and running is comparatively easy when compared to its lithium counterpart. “You need injection moulding machines, robots, presses, rollers and equipment to make carbon electrodes, buy some membranes or separators, then joining and welding gear to put these together in stacks, with some mechanical engineering to hold it together and then there’s the plumbing and“It’swiring.not difficult at all when you compare it to the clean rooms, ovens, furnaces, processing, finishing rooms, formation cells and all the rest of what is needed to make a lithium battery.”

“I don’t think you would need more than around £50 million to build an extensive flow battery manufacturing plant.”

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Lithium ion batteries may be the chemistry of choice for most grid services, but that doesn’t mean that they will be a cost-competitive solution for all applications — particularly emerging longer-duration ones. Among the various energy storage technologies under development, redox flow batteries are an emerging solution for long duration (that is four hours and longer), stationary applications as their system architecture offers a number of unique advantages. A RFB generally uses the potential difference between two reduction/ oxidation reactions — known as redox — to drive chemical reactions, thus converting electrical energy to and from chemical energy. In the RFB architecture in particular, electrolyte (the charge-storing capacity, usually in the liquid phase) is stored in tanks and pumped through the reactor where electrochemical reactions occur. This open architecture — the physical separation of the electrolyte and the reactor components — decouples energy and power. One can scale the energy capacity by increasing the tank size independently of the power rating (meaning the reactor size can stay fixed). This means RFCs can be designed for virtually any duration. This process of scaling the electrolyte tanks to meet longer durations, while keeping all else fixed, is depicted pictorially in Figure 1 below. This decoupling is a unique and distinct feature from many conventional battery technologies. This facilitates a number of unique economic benefits, including the decrease of capital costs on a per unit energy basis at increasing durations and long-term cost savings through component-specific maintenance to extend the battery lifetime and remediate decay. Capital cost is a very important metric for evaluating the economic feasibility of batteries, the most cited being the US Department of Energy’s target for viable grid storage of ≤150 $/kWh: the exact target varies by office within the DOE, and is often even below 100 $/kWh. This is because the capital cost is the primary barrier to adoption: grid-scale storage systems are large capital investments, so high capital costs hinder the ability to finance and install such systems.

Figure 1: A representative schematic of capital cost as a function of characteristic discharge time (or duration) for RFBs and lithium batteries. As duration increases, the capital cost of decoupled battery architectures shifts to be dominated less by power costs and more by energy costs

The capital cost (Ccapital) of a battery is generally defined as the sum of the energy costs (Cenergy) and the power costs (Cpower), the latter of which is divided by the duration to give consistent units of dollars per unit energy:ForRFBs, the energy costs consist of the electrolyte comprising the active species, solvent, and supporting electrolyte) and tank, while the power costs encompass the stack primarily the reactor, the most important components of which are the membrane and electrodes. Other balance-of-plant costs, for example, pumps, grid connections and additional costs such as labour, installation, profit margins and the like may or may not be included in these calculations, depending on the study. These are usually represented as power-based costs — they have units of dollars per kW and thus are also divided by the battery duration if summed and included in capital cost calculations.Theequation obviously implies that energy and power costs can be decoupled, which is how the capital cost is reduced as a function of duration. This is true for RFBs, which is why they are particularly attractive for longer duration applications. This is not the case for many conventional technologies: for example, in lithium batteries the Time for deeper re-assessment of the levelized cost of RFB storage Redox flow batteries — with their high up-front costs but lower running expenses — may be more financially viable than expected. Kara Rodby, venture capital technical analyst at Volta Energy Technologies, shares details of her research into the subject.

A combination of the capital cost and the LCOS allows for a better comparison across the range of energy storage technologies with different performance attributes, which can be used to assess and develop economically viable RFB systems. While the VRFB system benefits from reduced maintenance costs, it suffers from a high upfront cost, due, in part, to the price of the active species. The magnitude and uncertainty of vanadium prices are considered key impediments to broad deployment, which have motivated research into alternative chemistries based on lowercost and widely-available materials (see separate feature on the price of vanadium as the electrolyte).

A combination of the capital cost and the LCOS allows for a better comparison across the range of energy storage technologies with different performance attributes

electrode is part of determining both the power output (its electrochemical properties determine the rate of the electrochemical reactions) as well as the energy capacity (its morphology dictates how many ions can intercalate into it for storage). Thus, there is little room to modulate the ratio of the energy or power ratings, as these are based on physical materials limitations. Rather, increasing duration must be achieved by adding entire modules (as shown pictorially in Figure 1), meaning the total capital cost is approximately fixed (on a per unit energy basis), even with varying duration. While the capital cost savings at longer durations is a key selling point of RFBs over other battery technologies, there is still minimal deployment of RFBs on the grid. Despite the large body of literature on RFBs (there are around 4,500 publications, with more than 600 of them a year) RFBs only account for a couple or percentage points of the energy storage systems that have been contracted, announced, or are under construction globally. The low deployment rate is a result of the nascency of the technology, which creates a chicken-and-egg problem: no one wants to finance a seemingly risky project, but we also cannot de-risk a technology without financing initial demonstrations.Thelithiumbattery industry avoided this situation via higher revenue beachhead markets: by the time it was ever considered for the grid, Li-ion had already demonstrated improved performance (its roundtrip efficiency is now remarkably high, usually about 90%, compared to RFBs which are generally 80% or lower, depending on the chemistry). There were also lower costs from development and deployment in the relatively large industries of electronics and electric vehicles.RFBs, however, are only attractive for the medium to long duration grid applications, for which demand is still low. Thus, they are struggling to compete on a cost basis at such low production volumes. This situation is representative of a number of other nascent storage technologies (for example, metal air batteries). With a need to decarbonize the power sector rapidly to meet targets for 2030, 2050, and beyond, many of these nascent technologies will play a vital role in supporting the array of grid services that exist. One crucial avenue needed to solve this problem is to develop new technoeconomic models and arguments to motivate the development and, especially, deployment of these more nascent technologies. For example, RFBs offer a lot of long-term operational benefits that save costs, and these are not covered in capital costWhilecalculations.thecapital cost benefits to RFBs are well-described in the open literature, there are further economic benefits in operation due to ease of maintenance of open systems that are often not captured in techno-economic discussions.Forexample, crossover — defined as undesirable active species transport through the semi-permeable membrane that separates the positive and negative electrolytes in the reactor – is usually the most dominant form of capacity fade in RFBs and may halve the accessible capacity within 100-200 cycles.While this is a relatively fast fade as compared to that typically experienced by LIBs, the open architecture of RFBs allows for targeted, cost-efficient maintenance: in an RFB, one can access the electrolyte (the component affected by crossover) to repair or replace it directly, without altering the still-viable reactor. This is unlike conventional closed systems such as lithium batteries that require “augmentation” — replacement or addition of entire new modules — and which wastes undecayed reactor components. The costs necessary to maintain performance over time impact the battery’s economic viability, but are not captured in the conventional capital cost estimations that are commonly used to compare and benchmark different technologies. This is especially true for the vanadium RFB (VRFB), which is by far the most researched and deployed RFB chemistry.VRFBis particularly favoured for its strong performance and resiliency in dealing with electrolyte degradation, which is facilitated by its design as a “symmetric” chemistry, where all active species are based on a single parent compound.

COVER STORY: FLOW BATTERIES | REDOX FLOW BATTERIES www.batteriesinternational.com Batteries International • Summer 2022 • 55

The benefit of this chemical configuration is that the inevitable crossover of active species becomes much less detrimental, as it will not lead to cross-contamination and these losses can be recovered via rebalancing: the transfer and recharging of partial or full volumes of electrolyte between the two reservoirs to balance the concentrations of active species. Rebalancing allows for indefinite crossover remediation and, thus, lifetime utilization of the same, original electrolyte (assuming other forms electrolyte degradation are managed). Not many chemistries can be configured in a symmetric configuration, and while a handful of chemistries have been demonstrated symmetrically, vanadium remains the most promising and explored of them all.The long-term cost benefits are primary motivators of RFB development, yet they are not captured in the vast majority of prior technoeconomic modelling literature which has primarily focused on articulating upfront capital costs. This motivates the development of techno-economic models that consider the variable operating principles of different battery formats and chemistries. To this end, the central thread of this is a levelized cost of storage (LCOS) model that has been developed by this author to model lifetime RFB costs that incorporates capacity fade and recovery.

The current market price of vanadium translates to a total VRFB electrolyte cost of around $125/kWh. This is close to the price of some entire, state-of-the-art lithium ion battery pack.

Figure 1: Vanadium pentoxide and electrolyte prices in Europe from 1980 through 2021. Prices for ferrovanadium during this period follow nearly identical trends.

The cost of vanadium itself is a big contributor to the overall cost of any VRFB; the current market price of vanadium translates to a total VRFB electrolyte cost of around $125/kWh. This is close to the price of some entire, state-of-the-art lithium ion battery packs where volumes of mass manufacturing have driven prices down to new lows. The volatility of the price is cause for further concern. While historically the market price of vanadium, shown in Figure 1 as vanadium pentoxide (V2O5, a common vanadium product sold on the global market), has demonstrated notable volatility, the last five years have been particularly instable. While the current price is challenging for competitive grid storage, it also represents a relatively low point for the last five years and may spike even higher in the future. Such uncertainty makes investments in VRFBs less attractive. While new chemistries are being proposed that utilize lower-cost and higher-abundance materials, many of these efforts are at earlier stages of technology readiness, as compared to the VRFB, and while the issues they face may be known, solutions have yet to be fully developed which prevents near-term deployment. Recent studies show the costs to manufacture electrochemicalgrade, organic or organometallic active species can be substantial and have more complex decomposition processes that are difficult to remediate. Other research that uses stable, inorganic materials reveals chemistry-related issues such as competing parasitic reactions and, in the case of hybrid systems with deposition/dissolution reactions, difficulties preventing dendrite formation without severely limiting operating current densities. With growing demand for Keeping the price of vanadium down — and steady too

COVER STORY: FLOW BATTERIES | VRFB FLOW BATTERIES 56 • Batteries International • Summer 2022 www.batteriesinternational.com

Vanadium redox flow batteries may be state-of-the-art in terms of being technology-ready but the price of the electrolyte is still a sticky point.

Kara Rodby details more of her research into the subject.

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Current supply landscape Vanadium is relatively abundant on the planet, according to the United States Geological Survey, and has multiple orders of magnitude greater global resources as compared to scarce materials such as platinum group metals. The world production and resources of vanadium are similar to those for critical lithium battery materials (such as lithium, cobalt, and, to a lesser extent, nickel), though these elements are one or more orders of magnitude less abundant than elements such as sulfur, iron, zinc, copper, and manganese, which are the focus of many nextgeneration battery chemistries. Vanadium production is concentrated in China (62%), Russia (21%), South Africa (10%), and Brazil (7%), With so few countries dictating the supply, the global vanadium market can experience strong price volatility in response to local changes. This price uncertainty makes it difficult for large-scale and capital-intensive VRFB systems to attract investment. Since almost all countries must outsource their vanadium, sizable VRFB deployments would increase dependence on global supply chains. For this reason, vanadium was declared one of 50 critical minerals deemed vital to the US security in 2022. (The reason cited by the Department of the Interior was for its use as an alloying agent for iron and steel.) Beyond the geographic concentration, looking within those few countries that produce vanadium, there is even more severe concentration of supply as the majority of production arises from only a few facilities. Any disruptions in the supply chain can intensify volatility in supply and price. For example, the price spike that began in 2016 was partially a result of the bankruptcy-induced closure of Highveld Steel & Vanadium in South Africa in 2015 previously the world’s largest producer of vanadium slag from steel production, which caused an 11% decrease in global vanadium production.Thisdecrease in supply was compounded by other mine closures in China due to increased enforcement of environmental regulations. Supply has remained depressed for years and only began to rebound in 2019, likely due to increasing primary production in Brazil led by Largo Incorporated. Simultaneous to these supply constrictions were increases to demand in late 2018 due to revised Chinese rebar standards (regarding steel strength) that promote greater use of vanadium in high- strength steel alloys. The combination of circumstances ultimately led to the price spike in the final months of 2018.The expansion of VRFB production and deployment depends on the ability to increase the production scale of vanadium. At present, some 90% of vanadium production goes to steel manufacturing and this demand is likely to grow in the future given continued global economic development as well as a shift towards higher-strength steel in construction to reduce total material requirements.Whilethere are opportunities to substitute vanadium with other alloying elements (for example, manganese, molybdenum, niobium, titanium, and tungsten) — indeed, some steel mills in China have switched from ferrovanadium to ferroniobium due to high vanadium prices — there is no evidence such substitutions will re-route significant vanadium supply away from steel demand in the near future.Thus, any business-as-usual estimate would assume that steel will continue to drive the demand for vanadium at historic rates and only 10% of new vanadium production will be available forHowever,VRFBs. with growing energy and sustainability concerns, it is reasonable to believe that larger fractions of new vanadium production (say, as much as 50%) may be diverted to VRFBs, particularly if one can more rapidly scale supply. Where vanadium comes from There are three pathways for vanadium production see Figure 2. In the longer term, the largest potential to grow and stabilize vanadium production — contingent upon crucial technological advances in vanadium extraction and recovery from low-grade sources — likely lies in primary mining. Vanadium is relatively abundant globally. While vanadium mines have been proposed Mines typically require between five to 10 years to come online due to the lengthy approvals process through relevant regulatory avenues, which vary based on location and can take up to 50 years in the worst cases.

COVER STORY: FLOW BATTERIES | VRFB FLOW BATTERIES www.batteriesinternational.com Batteries International • Summer 2022 • 59

Figure 2: The three main production routes for vanadium pentoxide (V2O5)

stationary energy storage, VRFBs could theoretically play an important role in integrating renewable energy into the grid. However, the price of vanadium and its volatility presents significant concerns regarding the deployment potential of VRFBs.

While supply scale-up is necessary to augment VRFB deployment and will likely help stabilize the market, there are other potential more-immediate solutions to mitigate volatility of vanadiumVanadium,prices.as per Figure 2, must be extracted from vanadium-bearing compounds, of which there are two categories.Thefirst is mined shale or sandstone hosted deposits, from which vanadium is currently recovered most often as vanadium titanomagnetite.

COVER STORY: FLOW BATTERIES | VRFB FLOW BATTERIES 60 • Batteries International • Summer 2022 www.batteriesinternational.com

for decades, many have yet to be realized due to financing issues. Opportunities for new primary vanadium mining ventures exist in a range of locations — most notably in Australia, the US, and China — which could facilitate substantial supply capacity.Australia has substantial vanadium reserves, though no reported production in recent years, likely due to the lower vanadium concentrations present in their precursor supply: around 1% V2O5 content, as compared to around 2%-3% in South Africa and Brazil (where the overwhelming majority of primary production currently occurs). Plans to develop three sizable vanadium mines in Australia, if completed, could collectively produce around 27,000 tonnes of V2O5 per year. This would represent an 18% increase to the current global production of vanadium. While this represents a marked growth of the supply chain, continuous growth for at least 10-30 years would require new mines of this scale to come online annually. This is challenging. Further, these mines have operational lifetimes of between 10 to 50 when resources are depleted). Mines typically require between five to 10 years to come online due to the lengthy approvals process through relevant regulatory avenues, which vary based on location and can take up to 50 years in the worst cases.

While this represents a marked growth of the supply chain, continuous growth for at least 10-30 years would require new mines of this scale to come online annually. This is challenging.

Other potential sources Perhaps the most promising avenue for near-term growth and diversification of the supply chain is through secondary-source vanadium. These precursors are attractive due to their higher vanadium content (5% V2O5) that makes vanadium extraction more economical.Another potential route for vanadium production could lie in non-duplex steel-making processes.

One method to reduce the burden of the vanadium price exists via a new market of electrolyte leasing, where a third-party company leases the vanadium — usually in the form of VRFB electrolyte — to a battery vendor or end-user. This reduces the upfront capital cost of the battery while increasing long-term costs — a shift of capital expenses to operational expenses) by introducing some recurring fee which is attractive as it lowers the cost and risk of the required upfront investment for VRFB customers.

In some schemes, a portion of the financial burden of leasing is shifted from the lessor to third-party investors who can buy and trade vanadium — akin to markets for other physical holdings such as gold — though it is held and maintained by the lessor, who simultaneously rents it out as electrolyte to VRFB customers.Thesemarkets are new and are largely unknown territory, though a few academic studies have demonstrated the techno-economic potential for leasing.

The second is from so-called secondary sources where vanadiumbearing waste products of carboniferous materials such as oil, oil shale, and tar sands contain the metal. These are most typically found in residues from burning and refining oil. The vanadium content of these materials can vary widely: generally, minerals from the earth up to 5 wt% V2O5, while slags and other waste streams are often more concentrated. Because of the low grade of vanadium found in minerals, mining of vanadium is often performed indirectly as a compliment to other materials (for example iron for steel).

HERE COME THE MONEY-MEN

Neometals, an Australian company, says it has developed a hydrometallurgical process to recover vanadium from mono-process slags. The company has partnered with Scandinavian mineral development company Critical Metals, which has executed a 10-year supply agreement with Swedish steel giant SSAB to access approximately 2 Mt of stockpiled high-grade vanadiumbearing slag from three operating steel mills.

COVER STORY: FLOW BATTERIES | ESS www.batteriesinternational.com Batteries International • Summer 2022 • 61

“We dissolve ferric chloride in water. This means the electrolyte is in a pH range where it’s not an aggressive material. Then, if you want to build a cost optimized battery, you don’t want to have to use Teflon material and stainless steel and that’s also a feature of the ESS system — the electrolyte is so benign you can build the system out of standard materials. “Then ESS figured out the things going on in the battery that were inhibiting cycle life and came up with a unique technical and solid fix for it.”

The model poses political rather than technical difficulties, he says. “For it to happen, everyone in that town or village would have to sign up to say we’re no longer buying our power from the power utility. Instead, it would become something like a cooperative. But there would have to be a legal framework otherwise you would get a percentage of people who would be worried and reluctant to do it.”

THE ENERGY COMMUNITY MODEL RESURGES

Oregon iron flow battery energy storage company ESS believes there is no better time to be staking a claim to emerging business opportunities in Europe.Justdays after Russia invaded Ukraine, ESS announced on March 16 it was expanding its operations into Europe, to meet what it saw as strong demand for long duration energy storage. ESS’ Europe director Alan Greenshields, whose appointment was announced as part of the expansion, is clear-eyed about the challenges in raising the profile and sales of flow batteries, but insists that all the signs are encouraging. “Why, if flow batteries are such a good idea, is their market share currently about zero?” he says. “It’s because it’s really not featured and people say lithium is the only thing that’s going to work because it’s proven in getting way down the costButcurve.”as Greenshields says, it’s only been 15 years or so ago that lithium was getting the “it will never work and never be cheap enough” treatment.Interms of flow batteries, he says the need has been recognized for a long time, but “like all things in this sector, there are only three things that matter: cost, cost and cost”. Greenshields, who stepped down from the chairmanship of Innolith in 2020 and has held several boardlevel positions at battery technology companies, says he was previously a flow batteries sceptic, “because the numbers didn’t make any sense to me, particularly when you consider the fact that vanadium is expensive”. But he says he saw the light after becoming convinced with what ESS was doing because the company was founded by people who “came out of the vanadium flow space to find a cheaper solution.” ESS was founded in 2011 and formed a lab-scale battery before being awarded funding in 2012 by the US Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-e) to develop its iron, salt and water-based systems.

The company launched its ‘Energy Warehouse’ product line in 2017 followed by its next generation ‘Energy Center’ in 2021, which ESS says can be configured in different power capacities, starting at 3MW, with energy durations ranging from six to 16 hours.

Greenshields says that in addition to being “at least 10 times cheaper” than many other materials, the specific iron compound used, ferric chloride, has a low toxicity and environmental footprint “as well as being cheap”.

Greenshields says there will be a move away from a centralized grid model for distributing power — microgrids will form around renewable generation and energy storage hubs. This will happen at an industrial level as well as a community one. “We’ll see companies saying they will install their own battery and solar but might also buy a wind farm nearby and use this under normal circumstances to minimize their energy imports and shelter costs from volatility in the market,” he says. The energy community model could serve small towns well, with residents drawing power from battery systems charged up by renewables such as from nearby windfarms, rather than electricity generated from windfarms being sent directly to the grid and sent back out for use in communities at “massively elevated prices”, Greenshields says.

That fix is a device ESS called the ESS targets expansion in Europe and beyond US-headquartered iron flow battery storage company ESS intends to establish a commercial foothold in Europe, and as Batteries International went to press in Asia too. John Shepherd reports.

Greenshields reckons that there is room for other technologies, such as green hydrogen. “You have lithium for short duration, long duration storage from ESS in the middle for intra-day and green hydrogen as the carbon free replacement for natural gas for strategic safety reserves.

proton pump — a catalytic device that maintains the state of charge and battery health. “We now have a system for flow batteries where the mathematics start to work, because the electrolyte has a marginal cost of only $20 per kWh. So you have this cost degradation curve which means if you build a 10 or 12hour battery with this technology, the electrolyte cost is tiny,” Greenshields claims.Hebats away questions about the potential cost of replacing other key equipment, such as pumps. “Unlike batteries, if a pump fails it’s a $100 dollar item that can be quickly changed, and that’s how everything in conventional power stations works. Components can be replaced.”

“Long duration energy storage is the answer to how we are going to get our grids to net zero.”

Alan Greenshields, Europe director, ESS ESS announced on August 11 a strategic partnership with Energy Storage Industries Asia Pacific to distribute and manufacture iron flow batteries utilizing ESS technology in Australia, New Zealand and Oceania to meet demand for long-duration energy storage in the region. Under the terms of the agreement, ESS will initially supply 70 complete 75kW/500kWh Energy Warehouse systems to Energy Storage Industries in 2022 and 2023. Concurrently, ESI will construct a manufacturing facility in Queensland, Australia, equipped to conduct final assembly of ESS systems from 2024 onward. Systems manufactured at the Queensland facility will utilize “core component kits” supplied by ESS including battery modules, proton pumps, and other unique components.Corecomponent kits will continue to be manufactured in Wilsonville, Oregon. The ESI manufacturing facility is designed to reach a production capacity of up to 400MW of energy storage annually.

ESS MOVES INTO ASIA-PACIFIC TOO …

“Long duration energy storage is the answer to how we are going to get our grids to net zero.”

“Long duration energy storage is now back on the agenda and we have the breakthrough the world has been looking for in batteries.”

COVER STORY: FLOW BATTERIES | ESS 62 • Batteries International • Summer 2022 www.batteriesinternational.com

Greenshields says ESS offers an extended warranty for the first 10 years that includes not just this kind of maintenance, but also a performance guarantee underwritten by German multinational insurance specialist Munich Re. ESS commissioned an automated (but not fully automated) assembly facility in Wilsonville, Oregon in 2021, where Greenshields says standard industrial robots are manufacturing plastic and metal parts, without the need for dry rooms, clean rooms, coating machines and large capital expenditure numbers required for lithium.Wilsonville will have expanded capacity by eight times by the end of this year — which Greenshields says will be the “blueprint for production” the company intends to establish in Australia next year, followed by similar production operations in Europe.ESScommissioned a 50kW/400kWh Energy Warehouse system at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in San Diego in 2019. The flow battery is integrated into a microgrid with a CleanSpark microgrid controller and provides up to eight hours of storage to enable back-up capabilities for critical loads. In August 2021, ESS announced its Energy Warehouse had been selected to be integrated with a solar system to provide backup power to a data destruction company in Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, 17 of the company’s Energy Warehouse systems, with a combined capacity of 8.5MWh, are to be deployed to support a solar farm in Spain under an agreement with Enel GreenGreenshieldsPower. believes Europe is “now at the forefront” of where energy storage projects will be ramped up. He is also convinced that ESS’ flow battery technology will be part of that push. “The US has been making steady progress on storage in places like California, but Europe now has to move at lightning speed. There was always a higher political commitment for storage and renewables here, but slower response times in terms of getting all EU states to agree on a project.”Butif there has been inertia in the political energy required to commit to powering the Europe of the future, it has been swept away by what has taken place in Ukraine, Greenshields says.

Now countries just want to “put their heads down and get things done in a move to wind and solar with storage.”

According to ESS, Europe is expected to require up to 20TWh of longduration energy storage if it is to meet UN climate change goals of Grid NetZero by 2040. “You’ll see most storage shifting to 12 hours and you’ll see a growth in corporate microgrids,” he says.Greenshields says that in the light of Europe’s power supply concerns, energy generation and storage is now being recalculated in how many cubic metres of natural gas will this displace. “Solar and storage is a great displacement for natural gas,” he says.

“Following on from the debate about carbon, it’s been turbocharged by the political reality that Russia has started turning the gas off.”

“ESS fulfils the original aspirations of flow batteries and the reason is simply cheap electrolyte. Cheap to produce and cheap to handle.

His view is that those who want to use green hydrogen will nevertheless still need batteries but overall “we are now in an emerging but potentially massive market for batteries.

COVER STORY: FLOW BATTERIES | NEWS www.batteriesinternational.com Batteries International • Summer 2022 • 63 If flow batteries needed a deal that would focus renewed interest in the technology and put it on the world’s energy storage map, they now have it.The CEO of vanadium redox flow battery brand CellCube, Alexander Schönfeldt, has welcomed the sign ing of an agreement, announced on May 17, that will open, he reckons, a “gigawatt-sized pipeline” for his company into energy-starved South ernSchönfeldtAfrica.

According to Schönfeldt, based on current cost forecasts, CellCube’s technology could replace lithium in the stationary energy storage sector in the long term. In addition, he says the technology has exemplary recycling credentials.

In an earlier interview about Cell Cube’s technology, Schönfeldt said: “The advantages are convincing, and every project in the stationary storage sector, which currently uses lithium batteries, should be re-examined for safety and sustainability.”

Recycled As the vanadium electrolyte of a re dox flow battery is not used up over the system’s entire service life and does not degrade, so the storage ca pacity remains the same 20 years after day one of operation, Schönfeldt says. “The lifecycle of the tank and the secondary safety container, which serves as protection against leaks, is well beyond 20 years,” he says. In terms of safety, Schönfeldt says va nadium redox systems are preferable because they are neither flammable or explosive.“Thehigh-quality raw materials of our energy cells, the so-called ‘stacks’, are tested by experts and disassem bled and recycled depending on their condition,” he says. “In agreement with our customers, systems are taken back after the end of the service life and can be re-re newed or refurbished on the market.”

“We are revising our very successful small and commercial storage systems in the kilowatt range and will then be able to offer them in mid-2023 with a new look, better efficiency and at in terestingCellCubeprices.”isalso looking at projects involving green hydrogen, hybrid (electricity/hydrogen) filling stations and shipping.

CellCube readies ‘gigawatt-sized VRFB pipeline’ for Southern Africa

In terms of future developments for CellCube, Schönfeldt says the firm’s current focus is on “megawatt-size large-scale batteries” in container form for industrial customers and en ergyTheproviders.company is also working with large corporations on the “gigawatt storage devices of the future, so that extreme amounts of wind and solar power can be optimally transported via the power grid”.

told Batteries Interna tional: “Indeed this is the first giga watt announcement ever made for flowUnderbatteries.”theterms of the deal be tween CellCube brand owner Enerox and London-listed renewables devel oper, Kibo Energy, CellCube’s energy storage systems will be deployed in selected “target sectors” of the region as part of a rolling five-year frame work agreement. The deployment will use a ‘proof of concepts’ model, which Schönfeldt says would see CellCube “slide into the growth scenario with a handful of demonstration pilots for the vari ous sectors and usage cases and then scale“Kiboup”.has shown that it under stands the long duration energy stor age space and the activity that is needed to unlock value in the nascent long-duration vanadium redox-flow application.”

Comparison On cost, Schönfeldt acknowledges that vanadium redox flow batteries are perceived as being more expen sive, but says while all alternative battery technologies are directly com pared with lithium, overall costs relat ing to safety, environmental measures and disposal are “rarely taken into account in a direct technology com parison”.Hepoints out that a vanadium re dox flow battery lasts at least “two to three times as long” as a lithium stor age system and says the levelized cost of storage offers a better comparison to address costs in the right light. “This key LCOS figure indicates the costs of the stored kWh over the ser vice life of the storage system. Acquisi tion costs are thus relativized over the long service life of the storage system and with storage periods and applica tions of more than four to six hours, the vanadium redox flow battery is al ready competitive today.”

CellCube claims that more than 90% of its energy storage system can be recycled, including the electrolyte solution — which the firm says only has to be produced once and is then “remanufactured” for use in a new storage system at the end of the bat tery’sWaterlife.makes up most of this liquid, which is enriched with vanadium sul fate and other elements.

Telecoms Financial details of the agreement have not been disclosed, but Kibo has been granted selective exclusive rights for marketing, sales, configuration and delivery within targeted countries that make up the Southern African Development Community (SADC), whose 16 member nations include SouthKiboAfrica.saysCellCube will be involved in behind-the-meter projects that are expected to include telecoms towers, gated communities, shopping centers, commercial parks and a renewable energy microgrid project. Orders for specific projects are expected to be placed by the end of June 2022. Kibo says it will draw on its exist ing project pipeline of up to 21,200 installations, ranging from small scale 40kWh to larger 2,000kWh systems perTheinstallation.agreement also holds out the option of CellCube setting up a flow batteries assembly operation in the re gion, with Kibo having first right of refusal for production output. Kibo CEO Louis Coetzee says the growing SADC, “and particularly en ergy starved South Africa, makes the case for energy storage more viable”. According to Schönfeldt, the differ ences between his firm’s technology and its lithium energy storage coun terparts are “manifold”.

Redflow milestonehailsUS project Australian flow battery maker Redflow said on February 28 it had complet ed a 2MWh zinc-bromine energy storage system in California — its biggest single deployment to date. Redflow CEO Tim Harris said the California project — for Anaergia’s Rialto Bioenergy Facility — was “a very significant mile stone”.

Invinity agrees vanadium storage deal with Hyosung Corporation CellCube VRFB chosen for US projectmicrogrid

Canada fund graphene research in redox flow batteries

On March 18, Calgary University announced that Edward Roberts, a Schu lich School of Engineering professor would receive C$307,000 ($230,000) of funding to continue his work on graphene modifi cation to improve electricity grid capacity as part of the ‘Alberta Innovates’ pro gram.This is part of a C$13 million clean energy invest ment by the provincial government of Alberta. Roberts, who is also the associate research head in the university’s Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, recently dis covered that a small change to a battery membrane could have a big impact on redox flow batteries. Roberts modified the membrane with graphene, a carbon material measur ing only one atom thick, improving the battery’s ef ficiency and power density.

COVER STORY: FLOW BATTERIES | NEWS 64 • Batteries International • Summer 2022 www.batteriesinternational.com

The microgrid will integrate rooftop solar, support the battery’s continuous operation, and actively participate in power utility ComEd’s demand response pro gram, by isolating itself from the grid to help re duce peak load demand. According to the partners, the microgrid will eliminate its energy dependency during times when prices are high and provide more reliable and resilient power during seasonal peak demands and power outages.

China connects first phase of 200MW flow battery to grid

The first phase of a planned 200MW/800MWh vana dium redox flow battery energy storage system has been connected to the grid in China, the China Energy Storage Alliance (CNESA) reported on July 19.

CNESA said the initial 100MW/400MWh system in Dalian achieved grid connection on May 24 af ter six years of planning, construction and commis sioning, at a total invest ment cost of Rmb1.9 bil lion ($281 million). The eventual total cost of the project will be around Rmb3.8CNESAbillion.said Dalian Rongke Energy Storage Technology Development is providing the VRFB storage systems — using technology developed by the Dalian In stitute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sci ences.Ina related move, CNESA reported that China’s Na tional Development and Re form Commission and the National Energy Admin istration set out plans on June 7 that allow “new en ergy storage technologies” to play a greater role in the national electricity market. The notice issued by the agencies offers financial in centives for “independent power storage sites” to feed power to the grid. Invinity Energy Systems said on April 8 it had agreed to forge a partnership with Hyosung Heavy Industries — the power and industrial systems group of the Hyo sung Corporation, one of Korea’s largest conglomer ates.The companies signed a non-binding memoran dum of understanding for the partnership, including an exclusive relationship in South Korea, after conclud ing what Invinity said was a successful test and valida tion program with HHI. HHI said it had compre hensively tested a 200kWh energy storage system from Invinity, a company created through the 2020 merger of flow battery providers redT energy and Avalon Battery. The ESS has been in op eration since HHI bought it in 2020 and “has now been validated as suitable for ad dition to Hyosung’s growing portfolio of projects across the world”, HHI said. HHI is a supplier of heavy electrical equipment and one of the Korean region’s largest energy storage and renewable energy project developers, with around 2GWh of operational proj ectsHHIworldwide.willbecome the ex clusive representative for Invinity’s VS3 products in Korea, with further nonexclusive rights to sell Invin ity’s products in Hyosung’s other global markets. Under the terms of the companies’ agreement, Hyosung could also manu facture “elements of Invin ity’s VS3 products”. On May 10, Invinity chief commercial officer Matt Harper told the UK’s House of Lords economic affairs committee’s enquiry into en ergy supply and investment the company was “trying to shift from using virgin ma terial sources that requires digging holes in the ground to using those industrial wasteHarperstreams”.said vanadium was more common than copper or nickel and “avail able everywhere”, but while Invinity had key suppliers, the company was also fo cused on extracting vanadi um at the lowest cost, which includes taking it from in dustrial waste – such as that produced by the oil and gas industry.“When you refine heavy oil, you often get a very high percentage of vanadium as one of the wastes of that process.” US power grid systems firm G&W Electric is to use CellCube’s vana dium redox flow battery technology to support a microgrid under con struction in Illinois, the companies announced on July CellCube14. brand owner Enerox said the firms have signed a partner ship agreement for the project, which will also see G&W become a “value added reseller” for CellCube energy storageCellCube’ssystems.Release 4 VRFB system will pro vide more reliable and resilient power during seasonal peak demands, power quality issues and potential outages. The system2MW/8MWhwilloperateat up to 150% of its nominal power “to catch attrac tive power prices” in regional transmission or ganization’s PJM market, the partners said. “The system has been designed to provide the overrated power up to 3MW for nearly two hours and at 100% load for up to four hours.”

The ‘eurocrats’ who set the European Union’s energy and environmental policies in Brussels have not always looked kindly on lead batteries. It is often overlooked that lead battery technology is, quite literally, the driving force in the cars that transport politicians and other officials to and from their places of work in the various EU institutions each day. But you would not think that when lithium battery tech is all that appears to be trumpeted across the EU corridors of power in citing ‘sustainable mobility’ achievements.

But is the EU now learning to love lead? It certainly should — in terms of economic value to the bloc alone.

“The market we have identified is already growing, we can see that with the increased use of digital technologies, so our foresight and work is already paying off. Data centres and telecoms infrastructure in particular depend on high performance batteries and Poznan will supply those sectors,” Zoellner“Digitalisationsays. is one of the major trends that can have a positive impact on our industry and another big trend is the increasing need for the storage of data and communications, which

Learning to love lead

As latest analysis shows the lead battery industry is a key economic driver for Europe, Hoppecke CEO Marc Zoellner tells John Shepherd about his company’s investment in a new batteries brand, a production line in Poland and why the EU may be… “From our point of view, the back-up power market will outgrow other battery markets. Lead batteries are probably a blueprint for other technologies”

Marc Zoellner, Hoppecke CEO

INSIDE HOPPECKE www.batteriesinternational.com Batteries International • Summer 2022 • 65

The target market for the new ‘grid | Xtreme VR’ batteries line — which Hoppecke says represents “the highest level of development of today’s lead acid storage technologies” — are UPS systems in data centres and for backup power in telecom applications. The batteries are designed as top and front terminal versions.

The latest investment boost for the sector has come from Hoppecke, one of Europe’s oldest, independent lead battery manufacturers and its CEO, Marc Zoellner, is more than optimistic about the future of the technology within and beyond European shores.

In the spring, Hoppecke launched production of a new line of pure lead AGM batteries at a newly-built plant in Poznan, Poland. The pace of the project was impressive, considering the decision to build the facility was only taken less than two years ago.

Speaking to Batteries International for this interview just weeks before going to press, Zoellner said: “We are in the process of starting up production and beginning to deliver the first batteries to our customers. “We are proud that we took the brave decision while still in the Covid period to build a new plant, despite the travel and other restrictions that were in place at that time.”

Meanwhile, Zoellner says the company has developed a “whole new range of products” based on pure lead technology and is continuing to manufacture its standard battery products at its sites in the villages of Hoppecke and Bremecketal in western Germany.Zoellner, who is also president of EUROBAT, the European association for manufacturers of automotive, industrial and energy storage batteries, is philosophical when asked about the EU’s apparent ‘problem’ with seeking to regulate against lead batteries while encouraging greater investment in lithium and other technologies.

credits the start of its more than 90 years of history to a “strong woman” — Auguste Zoellner.

“I think this perspective is changing.

DO IT CARL!’ — THE HOPPECKE LEGACY

The single biggest political importance in the EU today is the ‘Green Deal’ and its policy objectives (such as reducing climate change and enhancing circularity). The Green Deal requires increased reliance on renewables and the storage of electricity — and for that you need electrochemical storage. “That in turn broadens the view from a policy perspective, because you are then not only looking at specific elements of materials, but at storage technologies themselves. In terms of lead batteries, you are looking at an industry that has been established for a very long time and one that manages the circular economy well. In fact, it has the highest recycling rate of a metal globally, so this technology has many good things to offer. “I think that in the past, from a political point of view, lead was looked at more in terms of the materials it used and the potential hazards associated with that. “But now, I think politicians and Earlier this year saw the launch of the Battery Council Internationalbacked Women in the Global Battery Industry — an organization of professionals founded to promote and develop the growth of women in the battery industry. And it was the efforts of a woman nearly a century ago that led to the launch of one of Europe’s best known battery manufacturers, Hoppecke.Thecompany

INSIDE HOPPECKE 66 • Batteries International • Summer 2022 www.batteriesinternational.com

In 1927, Auguste urged her 62-year-old husband, Carl, who was a major merchant from Cologne, to channel his efforts into boosting the economic prospects of the region and in turn helping those affected by unemployment with the words: “Do it,CarlCarl!”chose two fir trees as the company’s logo, with their trunks linked by a crossbeam to form the letter ‘H’ and to show the connection to the region of Hoppecke, where the company was founded. Four generations later and there is still a family member at the helm — Marc Zoellner. His great grandfather, grandfather and father were his predecessors, all as CEO and company shareholders. “We are proud to be one of the remaining private battery companies in Europe. There were around 25 in the days of my predecessors, my father for example, but the sector is a smaller industry now,” Zoellner says. “However, there are some privatelyowned battery companies and supplier companies around, so it really is still a strong industry and there are a lot of initiatives from those private companies that keep this industry thriving. We also have very good integration in working with the big internationals and other companies through associations like EUROBAT.”

“From our point of view, the back-up power market will outgrow other battery markets and that’s why we thought we should come out with a new product, offering better performance, a longer lifetime and better economics in terms of production and operation.”

“All these will require an energy infrastructure that is safe and secure in ensuring the transmission and storage of date and that is just one area where batteries such as ours will be needed.”

will become only more important in the future with the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and electromobility. “We see big demand ahead for lead batteries such as ours in what is a growing market. AI is just at the starting point, there will be many applications and we want to serve a part of that market.

The report — Economic Contribution of the European Lead Battery Industry* — said the downstream industry activity driven by the use of lead batteries was worth €7.3 trillion of gross domestic product across retail, construction andAndhealthcare.about€2 billion worth of country exports of lead acid batteries from the 27 EU member states are consumed by non-EU countries, such as the UK, Switzerland, and China, the report said. Zoellner says: “As CEO of Hoppecke, I see this industry as one that has a bright future and one that contributes to the challenges the energy sector faces. The battery industry is one of movement, investment and innovation and is very much a living industry.”

The way they were: Hoppecke in 1935 Hoppeke’s new facility in Poland

others are looking at lead batteries more as electrochemical storage facilities that do the job they are designed to do well. They also see these batteries as a probable blueprint for developing new technologies, too. So, I personally, as an entrepreneur, see a bright future for lead batteries.”

Three years ago, a sister company — Intilion — was formed in Paderborn, Germany, devoted to the lithium batteriesIntilion’smarket.focus is on industrial battery storage systems for stationary applications such as peak-shaving, load levelling and grid support to support the increasing share of renewables as well as electric mobility. Besides that, the Hoppecke group has developed high voltage battery systems for trains and other heavy duty“Justapplications.aswecontinue to innovate with lead batteries, we can also contribute to new applications for the integration of renewables through Intilion,” Zoellner says. But Hoppecke’s core business remains focused on lead batteries which, as an independent report released in April noted, is worth an estimated €15 billion ($16 billion) of value added or gross domestic product a year to the European economy.

Thepayments.industry also contributes to wider economic growth by enabling households and businesses to be more productive. Numerous downstream industries rely on lead batteries to operate, with the largest users being motor vehicle repair, construction, and transportation. (€1=$1.05)

Source: Report: Economic Contribution of the European Lead Battery Industry by EBP US EUROPE’S LEAD BATTERY INDUSTRY — THE FIGURES

• €36.5 billion in output or overall economic impact, and • €1.9 billion in social security

Although predominantly a lead battery manufacturer, Hoppecke added lithium to its portfolio nearly 20 years ago to supply industrial trucks, rail and bus systems and largescale storage systems.

INSIDE HOPPECKE www.batteriesinternational.com Batteries International • Summer 2022 • 67

The European lead battery industry (battery manufacturing, container and separator manufacturing, accessories, assembly equipment, recycling, primary lead producers and mining companies) directly employs approximately 31,700 workers.Inaddition, it supports about 75,000 jobs in other companies supplying into this industry and 77,500 jobs from worker spending in different industries. Together, these total over 184,000 jobs. Beyond jobs, the European lead battery industry annually supports the following 4: • €7.6 billion in labour income • €14.7 billion in GDP

* Consulting firm EBP was commissioned to compile the report by the International Lead Association

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LITHIUM: THE SHORTAGES AHEAD 70 • Batteries International • Summer 2022 www.batteriesinternational.com

“We are seeing what is a natural progression from high-value cathode material to the use of lower-value cathode materials, containing iron and manganese, which is a natural course for OEMs to follow to produce lower cost EVs for the mass market. There are also technologies like sodi um ion opening up toward 2035, for the stationary storage market too.”

Digging up more of the planet for raw materials is currently the only way to help satisfy soaring demand for elec tric vehicle batteries, according to recent analysis by Wood Mackenzie and the International Energy Agency. Wood Mackenzie research analyst Max Reid told the June AABC con ference in Mainz, Germany that ex isting lithium supply chains would not be able to meet demand and that battery makers and OEM are going to be “hugely reliant on virgin mate rials” and will need to invest in new mines.Reid said a ramping up of recycling could relieve some pressure from the supply deficit of battery raw materi als, but with the recycling market still in its infancy in large parts of the world, recyclers too could start to come under pressure as ‘beyond lithi um’ next-generation battery technol ogies are introduced. “Recyclers need to be aware that they might need to be retrofitting equip ment and processes in five or 10 years’ time, for example with silicon anode technology coming in,” Reid said.

Max Reid, research analyst, Wood Mackenzie

“At the moment it is less clear what the economics are and recycling is not really viable in general, but in the future we can expect recycling to be come part of the ecosystem.”

However, Reid raised the pros pect of battery materials clocking up thousands of air miles by being shipped around the world for repro cessing before being returned for use in new batteries — further denting EVs’ environmental credentials. “There is huge potential for recy cling, but we see a tough situation for recyclers in terms of the propor tion of metals contained in battery packs,” Reid said.”

Recycling not the solution as black mass value falls

What’s in the black mass? So while recyclers will face consis tent levels of material arriving as feedstock, the value per kilogramme is decreasing. This in turn could lead to some recyclers simply shredding battery packs and shipping the black mass off for processing elsewhere, such as in Asia. “It will be difficult to know what is in that black mass and we don’t want materials that already have so many air miles returned to markets for use in new batteries,” said Reid. EV models could themselves be changed to accommodate new and more efficient battery designs, but new designs from OEMs are probably

Recycling will be essential to the EV battery supply chain, but as OEMs use lower-value materials to cut costs, this could force recyclers to ship black mass overseas for processing — racking up more air miles for so-called green batteries. We are seeing a natural progression from high-value cathode material to the use of lower-value cathode materials … a natural course for OEMs cutting costs

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In addition, long lead times are often needed to secure financing and permits for which the latter can take up to a decade. The IEA says there is some evidence that, over the years, the time required to bring mines online has increased and “this can be partially attributed to longer permitting and feasibility study lead times”.Then once a mine is commercially operational, it often requires around 10 years before reaching nameplate production capacity. Given “sufficient investment”, the IEA believes downstream stages of the EV battery supply chain can ramp up to meet even rapid increases in demand by 2030. However, it warns upstream mineral extraction can cause major bottlenecks unless adequate investments are delivered well in advance.

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According to the Wood Mackenzie analysis, demand for key battery raw materials currently stands at 97 kilo tonnes (kt) for lithium, 186kt cobalt and 3,014kt nickel. By 2030, these are expected to grow to 318kt, 264kt and 4,273kt, respectively. Little value in recycling Supply from recycled materials, though paling in comparison, is ex pected to reach 130kt for lithium, 112kt cobalt and 377kt nickel, re spectively, by the end of the decade, the analysis says. “At present, the challenges of re cycled battery raw materials seem in surmountable. Most of the discussion has been around the collection and recycling of end-of-life EVs, but the process is plagued with challenges,” Wood Mackenzie says. The analysis includes a stark assess ment of current recycling options: First, the cathode, which contains critical metals in the EV pack, “is overpackaged with pack materials such as casings, interconnects, cool ing channels and others — and the result is a tedious recycling process with little value”.

five to seven years down the line and “that’s kind of far too late” to dampen demand for raw materials, Reid said. He said the electrification of the transportation sector had caused a boom in demand for lithium ion bat teries, with global cumulative lithium ion battery capacity set to rise more than five-fold to 5,500GWh between 2021 and 2030. The sheer rate of growth needed for raw materials for EVs and energy storage in the first half of the century was unprecedented, especially in the mining sector, Reid said.

The Paris-based agency bases its calculation on the fact that the supply of some minerals, such as lithium, will need to rise by up to one-third by 2030 to satisfy pledges and announcements for EV batteries made by governments and accounted for in the IEA’s ‘advanced pledges scenario’ (APS) published lastAccordingOctober.to the APS, which takes account of all climate commitments made by governments as of last October, demand for EV batteries will increase from around 340GWh at present to more than 3,500GWh byLithium,2030. says the IEA, is the commodity with the largest projected demand-supply gap and demand is forecast to increase sixfold to 500kt by 2030 — “requiring the equivalent of 50 new average-sized mines”. In addition to the dozens of mining projects needed to enter the market and reach capacity on schedule, the IEA says tens of new mineral processing and precursor plants will have to be commissioned. “And to translate this into EV deployment, tens of cathode and anode plants, gigafactories and EV production plants are required.”

Globally, Wood Mackenzie ex pects battery manufacturing capac ity to grow 3.5 times to more than 4,621GWh by 2030, “with China leading way ahead”, presenting “an in creasing market for production scrap”. Battery research lead at UK-head quartered consulting company Rho Motion, Ulderico Ulissi, told AABC that as battery designs evolve, their individual characteristics could im pact recycling methods. He urged a full, independent assess ment to be conducted into the value of end-of-life EV batteries, saying ex isting data was insufficient. As battery designs evolve, their individual characteristics could impact recycling methods.

Second, EV packs have long war ranties and lifetimes, meaning the recovery of critical metals from them will be a long-term affair. In addi tion, the emergence of second-use ap plications, such as residential or in dustrial energy storage systems, will also keep end-of-life EVs from enter ing the recycling system. As such, Wood Mackenzie says re cycling production scrap will be the main source of recycled material this decade.Meanwhile, China, Europe and North America will see huge increas es in battery and cathode manufac turing to meet demand for batteries.

However, the supply of raw materials still threatens to be the Achilles’ heel of the EV dream, because the longest lead times in the battery supply chain process by far are for the extraction of raw materials.According to the IEA, after an extractable resource is identified through exploration, it can take from four to more than 20 years for a mine to start commercial production. Four to 16 years can be required for the necessary feasibility studies, and engineering and construction work.

‘CLIMATE PLEDGES’ REQUIRE 50 NEW MINES, SAYS IEA

Ulderico Ulissi, Battery research lead, Rho Motion Around 50 new mines will need to be built around the world to satisfy soaraway demand for EV battery materials expected within the next eight years, according to new analysis — Global supply chains of EV batteries — published by the International Energy Agency in July.

Despite the recent commodity price surge, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says lithium battery prices still declined in 2021, with an nual battery price data from Bloom berg New Energy Finance record ing a sales-weighted average price of $132/kWh, down 6% from 2020. This was much less than the 13% decrease from 2019 to 2020, but the IEA says in its Global supply chains of EV batteries analysis, published in July, that several factors partially insu lated the average battery price from the commodity price rises last year.

Another 15% hike in battery pack prices ‘may be on way’

As EV battery makers scramble to source new supplies of raw materials and step up research into cheaper chemistry options, the International Energy Agency warns price increases are inevitable.

While researchers across the world are working to develop battery chemistries that do not use lithium, the IEA says the closest most viable option today is sodium-ion technology. China batteries giant CATL is among those developing the technology and plans to form a basic industrial supply chain by 2023. The critical advantage of Na ion over Li ion is that it relies on abundant and low-cost minerals. The cathode material for the CATL sodium-ion battery is Prussian White, this is made of low-cost elements sodium, iron, nitrogen and carbon. Sodium-ion batteries cannot use graphite anodes, so instead uses hard carbon. In addition, less copper is required as sodium-ion batteries can use aluminium anode current collectors, unlike Li-ion. The performance of sodiumion batteries is already looking impressive. CATL says the energy density of its own battery cell is up to 160Wh/kg, and the battery can charge in 15 minutes to 80% SOC at room temperature. Moreover, in a low-temperature environment of -20°C, the sodium-ion battery has a capacity retention rate of more than 90%, and its system integration efficiency can reach more than 80%.

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First, the rising prices incentivised chemistry substitutions, which made many automakers switch to lower cost cathode chemistries with less commod ity price exposure, such as lithium ion phosphate, which saw a significant in crease in adoption compared to nickelrichSecond,chemistries.commodity prices were rel atively low for the first half of 2021, which helped the average price decline.

But while Na ion has advanced beyond the research stage with a demonstration of commercially viable performance, there are no supply chains today for its cathode and anode materials, says the IEA. “The main uncertainties around the deployment of Na ion is the scalability of the production processes for these materials and the time required to develop an industrial scale supply chain.

SODIUM-ION TECHNOLOGY: THE WAY AHEAD

The critical advantage of Na ion over Li ion is that it relies on abundant and low-cost minerals. The cathode material for the CATL battery consists of low-cost elements sodium, iron, nitrogen and carbon.

The IEA estimates that if metal prices are to remain at levels experienced in the first three months of 2022 through out the rest of the year, then battery pack prices might increase by up to 15% from the 2021 weighted average price, all else being equal. Limited deployment OEMs could mitigate the impact by substituting other more cost-effective chemistries, but such price increases would still pose major challenges for automakers, increasing battery costs, reducing manufacturer margins and raising costs for consumers.

Meanwhile, the IEA says the future of battery chemistries is not set in stone and that they will become more diver sified by 2030 as manufacturers select chemistries to serve specific vehicle characteristics.Premiumvehicles can be expected to use the highest energy density batteries available, likely higher nickel content chemistries such as NCA95, NMCA (where aluminium is included) and NMC9.5.5, or potentially those with even higher energy density, such as lithium nickel oxide (LNO) or lithiummanganese-rich NMC (LMR-NMC). However, the IEA says again that this will only be possible if “research chal lenges can be solved and a commercial ly viable cycle life is achieved”. For lower end, high volume and prin cipally urban vehicles, LFP (lithium iron phosphate) is forecast to be the primary chemistry because cost will be the key consideration rather than driv ing range. The IEA says due to high commodity prices for nickel and cobalt

Third, the use of higher nickel chem istries such as NMC811 (where there are eight parts of nickel, one of man ganese and one of cobalt) reduced the use of cobalt, which the IEA says is the most expensive metal constitu ent in batteries per kg (around 5% of NMC811 cell price based on the 2021 average price), also offsetting some costs, particularly in the first half of 2021.

The IEA believes that a “key reason is the impact of rising commodity prices has yet to fully materialize” — because while automakers increasingly use con tracts in which material costs are linked with commodity prices for high volume battery orders, there is a time lag. “Therefore, these automakers did not feel the result of the exceptional commodity price rises from the last three months of 2021 until the firstquarter of 2022.

LITHIUM: THE SHORTAGES AHEAD www.batteriesinternational.com Batteries International • Summer 2022 • 75 and the expiry of key patents, LFP is set for major growth in volume models in Europe and the US. For mid-range vehicles, the IEA says manganese-rich chemistry (lithium nickel manganese oxide — LNMO) is a strong contender because it has a higher energy density than LFP, yet does not reach the levels of the highnickel chemistries. But while the larger proportion of manganese in LNMO reduces material costs and commodity exposure considerably, compared to high-nickel chemistries, LNMO is still under development. For medium and heavy-duty vehicles, LFP will account for the vast majority of installations as cost and reliability will be more important for the early applications of electric trucks, accord ing to the IEA. LFP has the best cycle life of the lead ing chemistries which suits frequent, short trips and being recharged often. However, longer range electric trucks are likely to use nickel-based chemis tries with the highest energy density, but their deployment before 2030 is limited. “Electric car sales powered through 2021 and have remained strong so far in 2022, but ensuring future growth will demand greater efforts to diver sify battery manufacturing and critical mineral supplies to reduce the risks of bottlenecks and price rises,” the agency says.Inthe short term, the greatest obsta cles to continued strong EV sales will be soaring prices for some critical min erals essential for battery manufactur ing, as well as supply chain disruptions caused by Russia’s attack on Ukraine and by continued Covid-19 lockdowns in some parts of China. And even if those challenges are ad dressed, the IEA points out that much more work needs to be done by coun tries to roll out enough charging infra structure to both encourage and cope with EV sales growth. According to the IEA, all-solid-state batteries (ASSBs) are the “anticipated next step-change improvement in battery performance”, because they can enable the use of a lithium metal anode. This can result in battery energy densities around 70% higher than the current “best” Li ion batteries with graphite anodes, dramatically improving driving range capability, opening other applications and eventually driving down costs. Nissan is starting pilot production in 2024 and aims to produce EVs with ASSBs in 2028, having just opened a prototype production facility in Japan, the IEA says. Other initiatives include a joint venture of QuantumScape and Volkswagen, which plans a pilot production line to start in 2024. However, the IEA analysis cautions that “despite the activity and announcements, major technical challenges remain to be solved before ASSBs can make significant impacts”.

NEXT STEP CHANGE: THE ALL-SOLID STATE-BATTERY Range of typical lead times to initial production for selected steps in EV battery supply chain Sources: IEA analysis based on S&P Global Battery metals demand, 2017-2021 Battery metals prices, 2015-July 2022

Current state-of-the-art performance often relies on impractical pressures to solve the contact problem, or on currently unscalable, expensive production processes to reach viable performance. But ASSBs are not expected to have a significant impact until after 2030, the IEA says.

Many of the draft rules soon to be come EU law under the Batteries Regulation are part of an undisguised effort on the part of the bloc’s leaders to dethrone Asia from its dominance in the batteries market.

Wang says all three companies “are examples of China’s integration into the world economy and the result of the globalization of the (batteries) value“Withchain.China’s opening-up process and economic growth, Chinese com panies are increasingly expanding their global presence,” he says. “De cisions to enter the German and Eu ropean markets are made by Chinese investors based on business interests, just like German companies in China.”

How China’s battery tigers are helping Europe’s nascent battery industry roar

Those investors include Chinese bat tery manufacturing majors Contem porary Amperex Technology (CATL) and SVOLT Energy Technology. “They specialize in electromobility and are building battery manufacturing facto ries in Germany,” Wang says. Meanwhile another Chinese battery titan, Narada Power, ploughs ahead with its range of projects in support of strengthening Germany’s power grid.

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And despite what Wang said were dif ficult economic conditions, GTAI data on foreign direct investment for Germa ny in 2020 indicated some 170 green field investment projects from China — a 10% increase over the previous year.

And now that Chinese battery com panies and others have become inter woven into the commercial fabric of Europe’s industrial landscape, Wang hopes Chinese companies “will be of fered fair competitive conditions here and that they can be treated equally with local companies”.

Measures imposing tough ‘green cri teria’ seeking to make European bat tery products an international stand ard and setting carbon emission limits on production are part of the arsenal of policies the bloc has crafted, in an attempt to allow Europe’s own gigarevolution to pick up speed and so challenge dominance from battery makers in countries such as China and South Korea. But while the policy-making rum bled on, Asia’s battery tigers prowled into town. The ‘competitors’ are no longer across the other side of the world — they’re busy at work in EU member states. And in exclusive interview with Bat teries International, the commercial counsellor at China’s embassy in Ber lin, Wang Weidong, says his nation is happy to be supporting Europe’s green energy agenda. As far as the Batteries Regulation is concerned, Wang says Chinese battery companies believe the new rules will have a positive impact in “promot ing green, low-carbon and sustainable development” of the battery industry and tackling climate change. Key players in China’s battery indus try are among others, such as South Korea, who have been busy setting up shop in the EU — in partnership with European peers — and in some cases benefiting from generous EU financial incentives.Wangsays data from the federal government-backed Germany Trade and Invest (GTAI) shows that around 5,700 Chinese firms across a variety of sectors were active in Germany in 2021, which in turn employed a total of more than 103,000.

Despite the EU’s oft-stated goal of building a battery cells manufacturing network to challenge Asia’s dominance, a senior Beijing envoy to Germany tells Batteries International, China is happy to play a key supporting role in shaping Europe’s batteries future.

“It is conceivable that Sino-European exchanges in the methodology of battery products will be undertaken and a cooperation mechanism will be established … “This should facilitate mutual market access, create a win-win situation and make constructive progress towards global climate protection” — Wang Weidong

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HOW REALPOLITIK ENERGIZED THE GREEN ENERGY AGENDA

The agreement was announced during talks between Germany’s then chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese premier Li Keqiang. Officials said the financial support was allowed under EU guidelines for regional investment. It’s also been barely two years since European Commission vice president and champion of the Battery Alliance, Maroš Šefcovic, said in a speech to a Nordic Battery Scene webinar that reducing Europe’s “overdependence on third countries, both for batteries and the raw materials needed to make them, is crucial to boosting our strategic autonomy and resilience in this area”. In that June 2020 speech, Šefcovic bemoaned the fact that “73% of the batteries bought in the EU are made in China, and only 6% in Europe”. Today, those remarks can perhaps be better revised to say: “We don’t mind buying batteries from Chinese companies, so long as they’re made inRealpolitikEurope.” in action, no doubt.

CATL’s Thuringia plant in Germany: ready for action by the end of the year

Anja Siegesmund Thuringia minister of environment energy and nature conservation and Matthias Zentgraf CATL Europe president Since the launch of the European Battery Alliance in 2017, the European Commission has trumpeted calls to make the bloc a world leader in sustainable battery production.Indoingso, Europe has not been shy in dishing out billions of euros to build a home-grown battery cells manufacturing network in its quest to slap down Asia’s dominance in the market.However, politics make strange bedfellows. While the EU sought to invest in building its own batteries empire, it was revealed in July 2018 that Germany would unlock the coffers of an economic aid fund — to support CATL’s construction of a battery cells factory in the country.

Narada has also established a Euro pean Energy Storage Service Center in Germany from which it offers services to European customers. In addition, Wang says the company has provided batteries for frequency control storage projects with a ca pacity of 50MWh commissioned in Ireland, while a grid peak regulation 300MWh storage project is sched uled for delivery in Italy by the end of 2022, according to Wang. In future, Narada’s focus will be on the “core business of intelligent energy storage and on lithium batteries”. CATL also sees “great development potential” for lithium battery technol ogy. “Breakthroughs in their perfor mance, such as energy density, range, safety, service life and charging have been“Atachieved.”thesametime, new products and business models are appearing from CATL such as cell-to-pack and cell-tochassis, such as CTP,” Wang says. “The innovation of battery industry depends on the development of key technologies, but market acceptance also plays a crucial role.” In early April, Contemporary Am perex Technology Thuringia (CATT), the group’s first manufacturing plant built outside China, received approval for an initial plant capacity of 8GWh per year. Wang says: “The construction of the plant, which is also CATL’s first bat tery factory in Germany, is in the fi nal phase and the installation of the machines are in full swing, so that the first cells can roll off the assembly line at the end of 2022.”

In terms of the growth and techno logical impact of Chinese battery busi nesses in Europe, Wang says that while Narada has been involved in lead acid and lithium ion battery technology for more than 20 years, “lithium batteries have gradually become the core prod uct” of the firm’s product portfolio in recentSinceyears.2017, Narada has been work ing with German partner companies to develop and deploy battery energy storage projects with a total capac ity of 75MW/125MWh. These lead carbon ESS projects have been imple mented in five phases, each with an output of 15MW/25MWh.

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executive vice president Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said an investigation into the incentives offered confirmed that the expansion “will contribute to job creation and to the economic development of a disadvantaged region, without unduly distorting competition”.

Wang is also open about the impact of a fresh outbreak of Covid cases in China in recent months that has led to some companies temporary halting production.But,conscious of China’s role as a global player in the materials supply chain for a range of industries, Wang says the government issued new Cov id-19 prevention guidelines, designed to enable businesses to “resume work to secure and stabilize industrial sup ply“Inchains.2021, China’s exports increased by 21.2% year-on-year. In doing so, China has helped meet the manufac turing and living needs of other parts of the world and helped to sustain the global industrial and supply chain. We will continue these efforts in the fu ture.”

Wang says Chinese president Xi Jinping and German chancellor Olaf Scholz agreed during a video confer ence on May 9 that both sides would “deepen cooperation on climate pro tection and energy transformation”. The incoming Battery Regulation “clarifies binding requirements on carbon footprints, due diligence, ma terial recycling targets, labelling and information management,” he says. “With the rapid technological inno vation in this industry and the globali zation of the supply chain, it is desir able that international coordination of the production standards in the battery industry be strengthened. “China and Europe are the world’s most important regions of produc tion and consumer markets for new energy vehicles and power batteries,” says Wang. “German electric vehicles equipped with Chinese power batter ies are sold all over the world.” Wang also hints at a desire to work closely with Europe in advances in next generation battery technology, saying it is “conceivable that Sino-Eu ropean exchanges in the methodology of battery products will be undertaken and a cooperation mechanism will be established.“Thisshould facilitate mutual mar ket access, create a win-win situation and make constructive progress to wards global climate protection.” However, Wang says that as world economies seek to pick up pace in the aftermath of the pandemic there are still challenges ahead. He acknowl edges that for all China’s economic and industrial might, it too is not im mune from global events. “There are disruptions in the global supply and transport chains, which can be observed in many countries. The reasons for this situation are manifold: bottlenecks in container shipping, rising commodity prices and so on,” he says. What Wang terms as the “current Ukraine crisis” has, he says, “further aggravated the situation. “China is now also being negatively affected. For example, like in Ger many, in China there is a shortage of chips for the automotive industry.”

ASIA’S BATTERY DRIVE INTO EASTERN EUROPE

With a total investment of €1.8 bil lion (about $1.9 billion), CATL in tends to expand production capacity to 14GWh and create 2,000 jobs in Germany. “CATL is therefore bringing its state-of-the-art technologies to Eu rope,” says AccordingWang.toWang, the spirit of in dustrial cooperation in the batteries sector should also be a model for gov ernments to work together in using technology to tackle climate change. “It affects us all and can only be mastered through our joint efforts. China has committed to peak carbon emissions by 2030 and become car bon neutral by 2060. Germany and Europe have also set themselves an ambitious goal for climate neutrality,” he“Tosays.achieve that goal, both Europe and China are trying to expand re newable energies. Energy storage is an essential technical component for the energy transition. The low-carbon transformation and the innovations in climate protection technologies, which include energy storage, there fore hold great potential for coopera tion between China and Germany.”

THE CHINA PERSPECTIVE www.batteriesinternational.com Batteries International • Summer 2022 • 79

A number of Asian battery players are making inroads into the European battery cells manufacturing market. In December 2020, the Hungarian government said Chinese lithium battery components company Shenzhen Kedali Industry would open a manufacturing base in the north of the country. In July 2021, the European Commission approved a proposed €90 million ($94 million) subsidy by Hungary for construction of a second electric vehicle battery plant in the country by South Korea’s SK Innovation.Theannouncement came after SKI secured a $500 million ‘green loan’ from the Export-Import Bank of Korea towards construction of the facility — and unveiled plans to start building a third battery plant in Hungary.OnMarch 18 this year, the European Commission approved a €95 million package of aid offered by Poland’s government to support the LG Chem group’s expansion of its EV battery cells production plant in theCommissioncountry.

EUROBAT president and CEO of Hoppecke Batterien, Marc Zoellner, opened the forum calling for the role of batteries to be further elaborated in the European Commission’s ‘REPowerEU’ plan — aimed at severing dependence on Russian gas beforeZoellner2030.said the new geopolitical realities facing the continent also warranted an update of the Battery Action Plan, launched by the European Battery Alliance in 2017, with a review of policies covering mining, battery materials, battery manufacturing and recycling.“Batteries have never been more important. They are a key enabler of the mobility transformation and, given the energy situation, they also play a key role as solution for the storage of wind and solar energy,” he said. The highlight of the morning’s talk was the address by Clarios’ EMEA vice-president for industry and government affairs Christian Rosenkranz who unveiled the ‘EUROBAT 2030 Battery Innovation Roadmap 2.0’. Fundamentally the roadmap set out the case for all battery chemistries to be deployed to help Europe meet its climate and energy sustainability goals. It also included a further plaintive cry from industry for European R&D public funding activities to be “spread more equally among the different technologies”, by targeting applied research on different applications.“Today,battery technologies are still competing or are complementary in different market segments and Europe will benefit if it leaves the door open for all technologies to be able to maximize their market innovations,” the roadmap said.

Zoellner: “Europe is facing new geopolitical realities”

EVENT REVIEW: EUROBAT 80 • Batteries International • Summer 2022 www.batteriesinternational.com

EUROBAT’s annual meeting and forum started, as ever, well. It’s hard to remember a time that it didn’t. Once the annual meetings were over on the Thursday afternoon, it was almost straightaway to predinner drinks and a very fine meal at Brussels’s Trainworld — a fascinating former railway station converted into a museum and full of current and previous trains and carriages. The next day started well too.

EUROBAT Forum 2022 and Annual Convention • June 23-24, Brussels, Belgium

The roadmap is an update of an original publication (from June 2020) to account for the latest technological developments and changes in EU policies, primarily the proposal for a European Batteries Regulation, which is expected to come into force next year. Industry chiefs say the new roadmap reflects the technological realities and potential of the best available battery technologies and how they can contribute to the EU’s policyRosenkranz,objectives.who is also chairman of the Consortium for Battery Innovation, said developing all chemistries “will maximize the contribution of our industry” to meet EU zero-pollution targets and support the European Green Deal and other initiatives. While lithium and lead-based batteries will remain the dominant battery technologies by 2030, the roadmap acknowledged that the European Commission’s ‘REPowerEU’ plan could be expected

Energizing Europe’s future EUROBAT’s Battery Innovation Roadmap made the case for a ‘level playing field’ of investment in technologies to power Europe up to 2030 and beyond. Political leaders were warned not to cherry pick favourites.

The next EUROBAT Forum and Annual Convention will be held in Madrid, Spain on June 6-7, 2023 New technologies skills challenge Petr Dolejší, director of mobility and sustainable transport at ACEA — the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association — said that Europe was still putting together the pieces of a ‘sustainability puzzle’, noting that decarbonization ambitions could only be achieved once all other elements were in place.

Mandatory EU battery recycling Valerie Plainemaison, secretarygeneral of the European Waste Management Association, said proposed EU regulations for mandatory recycled content would be crucial to making a success of the incoming Batteries Regulation. EU recycling capacity needs to be increased by 25 times until 2030 to manage the flow of end-of-life EV batteries, she said. Mandatory recycled content proposals would also boost localized materials supply chains for European battery makers and reduce the bloc’s dependency on third countries for raw materials.

Violaine Verougstraete, chemicals management director for Eurometaux, told the forum that despite European Union support to build a network of battery cells gigafactories across the bloc, there remained a need for coherence, predictability and efficacy in environmental legislation. She cautioned against “burdensome reviews” being undertaken authorities of existing legislation, such as the European Chemicals Agency’s REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) list.

EVENT REVIEW: EUROBAT www.batteriesinternational.com Batteries International • Summer 2022 • 81 to have an “additional high impact on energy storage demand” that could not be covered by any single technology.Thedocument cautioned that application-specific developments would further push the boundaries for established technologies, in particular for lithium and lead-based technologies.Nevertheless, the paper said leadbased batteries would maintain their position with single digit market growth every year until 2030, while lithium ion represented the fastest growing market with double-digit annual growth up to 2030. Rosenkranz, however, said: “Lead is not going to be redundant.” In motive power and off-road industrial vehicles, for example, “the mainstream technology in 2030 is still going to be lead based, even though lithium is growing fast”. The innovation potential of the mainstream established technologies will be driven by new technology branches in lead, such as pure lead, lead-carbon and bipolar, according to the Lithiumroadmap.ionbatteries are expected to forge ahead because of the “diversity in technologies”, but there are still a “large variety” of key performance indicators to improve. The roadmap concluded that the development of lithium ion technologies suitable for industrial and automotive applications is also “still a challenge” in terms of material research, process, production, development, recycling, safety and transportation, the paper said. Meanwhile, the document reiterated warnings to EU leaders that “putting too much emphasis” on one technology would represent a strategic risk for Europe’s global competitiveness, negatively affect buying power for millions of the bloc’s citizens and damage EU industrial knowledge across key markets.

Lead ‘packs €15bn economic punch’ Derek Cutler, chief economist at economic research and analysis firm EBP-US, presented the detailed findings of analysis published in April that showed the lead battery industry is worth an estimated €15 billion ($16 billion) of value added or gross domestic product a year to the European economy. The report — ‘Economic Contribution of the European Lead Battery Industry’ — said the downstream industry activity driven by the use of lead batteries is worth €7.3 trillion of gross domestic product across retail, construction and healthcare.According to the report, nearly €40 million is invested in R&D annually by the lead battery industry — further boosting growth and productivity. In addition, the report confirmed that new lead batteries, which are all recycled when collected in Europe, typically include up to 80% recycled content. ‘Localized supply chains for OEMs’ Wolfgang Bernhart, senior partner at consultants Roland Berger, underlined the need for OEMs to secure stable supplies of raw/refined battery materials. Failure to do so could jeopardize their EV business models, Bernhart said in his presentation. Greater localization of the supply chain could reduce cost, risk, political exposure and reduce the CO2 footprint of material supplies.

Gigafactories need legal ‘coherency’

EUROBAT ’22 NEWS IN BRIEF Rosenkranz: “the mainstream technology in 2030 is still going to be lead based”

Verougstraete also said that more than 30 gigafactory projects had begun or were planned across the EU and UK combined. Alas she did not say how many would be around 10 years’ hence.

The Advanced Materials Show and Ceramics UK conference blended programme featured twotracks tackling the challenges and opportunities in materials innovation and materials industrialization respectively, and welcomed expert speakers, for example, from Cerion, Tata Steele, Henry Royce Institute, and“TheNovoMOF.exhibitors at the show showcased some incredible innovative technology,” said the organizers. “Keyence who are leaders in industrial automation and inspection systems displayed 3D microscopes, laser marking solutions and automated inspection solutions. The University of Wolverhampton brought the

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. NEC, Birmingham, UK • June 29-30

EVENT REVIEW: ADVANCED TECH & INNOVATION SHOWS 82 • Batteries International • Summer 2022 www.batteriesinternational.com

Cross-fertilization of ideas: a conference road less travelled

Not just a good event, but a great event. That was the comment of one attendee at the launch event of these four co-located shows. Despite facing competition from a similar event in Europe, the well established The Battery Show held in Stuttgart on the same days and also a similar meeting in Australia, attendance wasCertainly,high. the statistics were good. The four co-located shows welcomed 308 exhibiting companies, 3,142 attendees and 93 speakers across four conference tracks, said the organizers: “Over 84% of attendees at the show were decision-makers and influencers from their retrospective companies, which included 1,373 unique organizations in attendance from 40 countries over six continents.” This is certainly no mean feat given that this was the first time the event had been held — and certainly indicative of a huge up-swell of interest into these interrelated meetings. But it was also cleverly put together. Too much of modern electrochemical advances are isolated from their context in terms of material and engineering. Ben Silverstone, head of the WMG Skills Group at the University of Warwick said: “My favourite part of the show has been having all the different elements in the same place: advanced batteries, EVs, ceramics and the like. “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.” It was much more than an exhibition, however. There were four co-located conferences and related presentations going on. Battery Cells & Systems Expo and Vehicle Electrification Expo conference was dedicated to battery development, broader electrification and manufacturing strategy, which welcomed expert speakers from McLaren Applied, Rimac Technology, Tevva, NPL among others.

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.

EVENT REVIEW: ADVANCED TECH & INNOVATION SHOWS www.batteriesinternational.com Batteries International • Summer 2022 • 83

Formula 3 car, the winning vehicle of the Championship F3 Cup UK 2021 season. The show was host to key events across the two days, including the leaders in graphene — clearly one of the key ingredients in EV battery development and manufacturing — participating in five curated roundtable discussions, focusing on the barriers and opportunities in graphene production and application.Theshow also had what the conference organizers called “a VIP campaign” — essentially an extra stream for participation and complete with complimentary refreshments. This included, for the chosen few, the opportunity to attend a special tour and reception at the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre in nearby Coventry.

The four conference sections in each corner of the auditorium were busy throughout the two days with, on occasion, there were audiences of over 100 people seated and standing roomTwoonly.sessions particularly stood out.Dirk Spiers, perhaps the key figure in the development of a second life market for lithium batteries, hosted a lively discussion on the challenges of repurposing, repairing or recycling unfit-for-use EV batteries. Withers & Rogers hosted an intellectual property seminar, detailing in very practical ways how one could leverage commercial benefit from innovations. This included how to identify intellectual property in the business, how to protect IP assets, and how to use this to further one’s business goals. Sarah Connolly, innovation lead at Innovate UK, part of UKRI summed up the show. “It’s been wonderful to hear how all of the pieces of the puzzle are coming together for the future of sustainability of the materials industries. I’ll definitely be coming back next year.”

The next Battery, Cells and Systems Expo and Vehicle Electrification Expo is on June 28-29, 2023 and will be co-located with The Advanced Materials Show and The Advanced Ceramics Show at the NEC, Birmingham UK. “It’s been wonderful to hear how all of the pieces of the puzzle are coming together for the future of sustainability of the materials industries”

Adam Moore, one of the organizers of the event, said: “The success of the show at this its launch event is tribute to the excitement that’s being generated in the UK over battery development and the fact that this country is poised for huge growth in the years ahead.”

For those of us lucky to attend the UKBIC tour, this provided a fascinating chance to speak individually about the approach of the centre to scaling up proven, at least in the lab, technologies and develop them into the stepping stones leading to commercial possibilities. “I was impressed by some of the UKBIC facilities — in particular their testing methodology and equipment — but I was equally taken by the wealth and range of expertise of the staff,” one attendee said to Batteries International. The VIP campaign, however, did not extend to the refreshments. One Dutch and British pair were vociferous in their moaning that the sign saying drinks — complete with a picture of a glass of wine — only led them to the inevitable British cup of tea and biscuit!

Contact Solar www.intersolar.mxPromotion

Mexico City, Mexico Oslo, Norway

The special exhibition “ees South America” is the industry hotspot for suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and users of stationary and mobile electrical energy storage solutions. Covering the entire value chain of innovative battery and energy storage technologies – from components and production to specific user application - it is the ideal platform for all stake holders in the rapidly growing energy storage market. The focus at ees is on energy stor age solutions suited to energy systems with increasing amounts of renewable energy sources attracting investors, utilities, installers, manufacturers and project developers from all over the world.

As Africa’s’ largest energy conference & exhibition, The Solar Show Africa brings together government ministries, utilities, power producers, municipalities, regula tors, large energy users, project develop ers, investors and solution providers to allow new business opportunities and valuable connections to be made. For 23 years, delegates have flocked to the conference to gain first-hand knowledge on upcoming projects, in vestment opportunities and innova tions across the continent that will help utilities deliver energy.

Contact africa/index.stmwww.terrapinn.com/exhibition/solar-show-Terrapinn

Oslo Battery Days August 22 – 23 Oslo, Norway

The 4th OBD Battery Conference will meet to discuss and provide a plat form for technological innovations and business opportunities with the latest updates in that fields in Norway and abroad. The conference is held every second year and is the leading Battery conference in Norway, bringing togeth er participants from leading private and public companies, start-ups, inves tors, academics and businesses that are interested in the battery revolution.

PCIM Asia August 31 – September 2 Shanghai, China PCIM Asia offers a chance to see the latest developments in power elec tronics components and systems. The strong link between conference and exhibition guarantees the high quality of the show. This unique combination fosters the fast and easy exchange between industry and science, for which PCIM Asia is fa mous. Contact Messe com/shanghai/en.htmlwww.pcimasia-expo.cn.messefrankfurt.Frankfurt

Intersolar Mexico September 6 – 8 Mexico City, Mexico Intersolar Mexico serves as the indus try’s go-to source for invaluable tech nology trends and premier B2B con tacts in the promising Mexican solar market.Representatives of leading companies and organizations in the solar market will comment on the development and prospects of both the solar thermal and photovoltaic sectors. Among the topics to be addressed are: project financing, energy storage, business models and innovations in distributed solar gen eration, the regulatory situation, decar bonization in the industrial sector.

The Solar Show Africa August 23 –Johannesburg,24 South Africa

ees South America August 23 – 25 Sao Paulo, Brazil

FORTHCOMING EVENTS 84 • Batteries International • Summer 2022 www.batteriesinternational.com

Contact Solar www.intersolar.net.br/homePromotion

Contact Schive AS Erik Schwings Hagelien Tel: +47 90 73 91 59 E: www.oslobatterydays.compost@schive.no

Contact Messe www.decarbxpo.comDusseldorf World Energy Storage Day — WESD September 22

Contact IPM www.automotivesuppliersummit.comAGGermanyWolfsburg, Anaheim, USA

Contact

FORTHCOMING EVENTS www.batteriesinternational.com Batteries International • Summer 2022 • 85

RE+ September 19 – 22 Anaheim, California. USA RE+ brings the modern energy indus try together to foster a cleaner future for all. The largest and most compre hensive event in North America for the clean energy industry, RE+ is com prised of: Solar Power International (our flagship event), Energy Storage International, RE+ Power (including wind, and hydrogen and fuel cells), and RE+ Infrastructure (electric vehicles and microgrids) and brings together an extensive alliance of renewable energy leaders for multiple days of program ming and networking opportunities. RE+ sets the standard for clean en ergy events as the fastest growing and largest solar show in North America, as recognized by Trade Show Executive and Trade Show News Network. RE+ has also been among the Gold 100 for ten years running and has pre viously been named “Best Use of Tech nology” and “Stickiest Show Floor” by Trade Show Executive for the in novative ways in which attendees stay engaged -- the only solar and storage event to receive such a distinction.

Join global thought leaders driving green energy and clean transportation and let’s together commemorate the movement that can transform the planet. With a rising focus on the effective integration of renewable energy, the im portance of electric vehicle and reliable, resilient energy supply, energy storage is becoming an increasingly important tool in the electricity ecosystem. With Energy Storage rising to the fore front of industry developments, vari ous global industry stakeholders, policy makers, think tanks and associations to acknowledge its importance across the globe commemorate World Energy Stor age Day on 22nd September every year.

The Battery Show North America September 13 – 15 Novi, Michigan, USA The Battery Show brings together en gineers, business leaders, top-industry companies, and innovative thinkers to discover ground-breaking products and create powerful solutions for the future. From raw materials to com ponents, find what you need to power your next project. Informa www.thebatteryshow.comMarkets International Congress for Battery Recycling — ICBR September 14 – 16 Salzburg, Austria ICBR 2022 is the international plat form for reviewing the challenges faced by the Battery Recycling Industry on a global basis. For 26 consecutive years, ICBR has brought together the interna tional community of experts and deci sion makers of the entire Battery Re cycling value chain, including battery recyclers and manufacturers, collection organizations, OEM’s, policymakers, materials and services providers and manyDon’tmore.miss this unique opportunity to get valuable industry insights and en gage in the most inspiring discussions and unrivalled networking opportuni ties amongst the leading experts in the field of battery recycling! Contact ICM AG E: 452a-8d20-d24ba90095aa/summaryhttps://events.icm.ch/event/0ed92807-fd1d-info@icm.ch

Meet the key players of the automotive industry at the B2B Management Con ference with accompanying exhibition in Wolfsburg - the home of the worlds biggest Automotive OEM. Discuss the current challenges of the automotive industry and the future of the automotive supply chain industry. Take the chance to connect with ex perts and executives at B2B meetings, and in the exclusive tradeshow that ac companies the summit.

Contact www.energystorageday.org Automotive Supplier Summit October Wolfsburg,10 Germany

The Automotive Supplier Summit @ IZB2022 will take place as a hybrid event, both in Wolfsburg and online.

Expo for IndustriesDecarbonised September 20 – 22 Düsseldorf, Germany Messe Düsseldorf’s program includes the world’s leading trade shows for the energy-intensive industries of glass, plastics and metals. The network of these three events already offers great potential for target-group-specific visi tor promotion for decarbXpo: it com prises around 7,000 exhibitors and 339,000 visitors. New business poten tial and high-class decision-maker net working around three megatrends of the energy transition: Decarbonization, energy storage and hydrogen.

Contact Solar Power Events E: www.re-plus.comregistration@re-plus.com

Canada’s 2022 confer ence will concentrate on the acceleration of the implementation of energy storage as a means of realizing energy storage’s capacity to serve as a critical driver in Canada’s on-going energy transition. Industry and policy leaders in Canada and around the world acknowledge the need for energy storage. Join us to learn more about how Canada’s energy in dustry is helping the country reach its Net Zero goals.

Future Battery Forum November 3 – 4 Berlin, Germany The management conference brings together the entire value system of battery technologies: Across various industries more than 300 users, bat tery system and cell manufacturers and their suppliers will spend two days exchanging information, mak ing new contacts and enriching each other. Contact IPM AG • www.futurebattery.eu Global SuppliersComponentsAutomotiveandExpo

The Smarter E India & Power 2 Drive — ees December 7 – 9 Gujarat, India With three parallel energy exhibitions, The smarter E India is India’s innovation hub for the new energy world. It pres ents cross-sector energy solutions and technologies and reflects the interaction of the solar, energy storage and electric mobility industry. The smarter E India addresses all the key areas along the value chain and brings together local experts and interna tional stakeholders in the energy future.

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Batteries Event October 18 – 21 Lyon, France

Contact Cambridge EnerTech E: www.advancedautobat.com/usce@cambridgeenertech.com

Advanced Automotive Battery Conference USA — AABC USA December 5 – 8 San Diego, California, USA AABC was founded more than 20 years ago to review the status of auto motive battery technology and provide informed glimpses into the future. The 2022 program will uncover the underlying technical and business is sues that will impact the pace and path of vehicle electrification worldwide. Join us in San Diego to network with chief battery technologists from lead ing automotive OEMs, who will share their development trends and projected battery needs, as well as their key sup pliers who will present their latest of ferings and roadmaps for the future.

Batteries 2022 will cover all aspects of the battery circular economy, begin ning from the production of the bat tery through raw materials, battery manufacturing, battery use and safety, management and applications, going through market trends, research and de velopment, new technologies and finally closing the loop with a focus on recy cling, second life and regulations.

Contact Kristin Merz, Solar Promotion E: www.thesmartere.in/homemerz@solarpromotion.com Stuttgart, Germany Gujarat, IndiaLyon, France

Energy Storage Canada October 11 – 12 Toronto, Canada Energy Storage Canada’s Annual Con ference – Accelerating Canada’s Energy Transition is pleased to be back in per son this year with virtual content from the event available to all attendees post conference.EnergyStorage

Contact Energy Storage Canada E: www.energystoragecanada.orginformation@energystoragecanada.org

Contact Avicenne Energy • www.batteriesevent.com

The smarter E India brings together the renowned Intersolar India, ees India and Power2Drive India. ees India is India’s leading electrical energy storage exhibition. ees India will focus on batteries, electrical energy stor age technologies and systems attracting investors, utilities, installers, manufactur ers and project developers from all over the world.

www.batteriesinternational.com

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

November 8 – 10 Stuttgart, Germany Tier 1, 2 and 3 automotive compo nent manufacturers from around the world will be at the expo to display their very latest technologies and products. Plus numerous other exhib itors will be on hand to discuss how they can participate in cost reduc tion within supply chains, and how they can offer new, alternative, costeffective manufacturing and supply solutions. Furthermore, international associations, pavilions and specialist components manufacturers will be participating from the Middle East, Asia, the Americas and Europe, so this is a truly global supplier-sourcing opportunity in one compact location. Contact UKi Media & pliersexpo.com/en/www.globalautomotivecomponentsandsupEvents

Battery Japan March 15 – 17, 2023 Tokyo, Japan Battery technologies are the key to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 as they will largely contribute to the popularisation of renewable energy andBATTERYEVs. JAPAN gathers a broad range of technologies, components, materials, and devices for rechargeable batteries development & production. The show attracts professionals from all over the world. Contact RX Japan E: www.wsew.jp/hub/en-gb/about/bj.htmlwsew.jp@rxglobal.com

Intersolar North America

Business through In terBattery 2023!

Contact InterBattery Secretariat E: www.interbattery.or.kr/en/interbattery@coex.co.kr

Contact Diversified www.intersolar.usCommunications

Long Beach, USA Seoul, Tokyo,KoreaJapan

InterBattery March 15 – 17, 2023 Seoul, Korea First launched in 2013 in Seoul, Korea, InterBattery is Korea’s leading battery exhibition showcasing various new products and technologies of battery industry.InterBattery 2023 attracts more than 400 exhibitors(domestic/overseas) and 1,200 booths including global top cor porates of battery manufacturers such as Samsung SDI, LG Energy solution, SK On, CHARGECATL.Your

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International Battery Seminar and Exhibit March 20 – 23, 2023 Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA Founded in 1983, the International Bat tery Seminar & Exhibit has established itself as the premier event showcasing the state of the art of worldwide energy storage technology developments for consumer, automotive, military and in dustrial applications. Key thought leaders will assemble to not only provide broad perspectives, but also informed insights into sig nificant advances in materials, product development, manufacturing, and ap plication for all battery systems and enabling technologies. As the longest-running annual bat tery industry event in the world, this meeting has always been the preferred venue to announce significant develop ments, new products, and showcase the most advanced battery technology.

Contact Cambridge EnerTech E: www.internationalbatteryseminar.comce@cambridgeenertech.com

February 14 – 16, 2023 Long Beach, California, USA

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So much in so little time. Georges Leclanché, creator of the dry cell battery, was only 43 when he died. Yet his legacy — found in the multibillions of flashlight-style batteries scattered in homes across the world — has been global in impact. Leclanché lived through a turbu lent and desperate time for his na tive France — years of revolutions, anarchy, war and occupation. Twice during his life his family were politi cal refugees forced to flee from their homes.Leclanché was born in 1839 at Parmain to the north of Paris. His father, Léopold Leclanché, a promi nent lawyer and a collaborator of the political revolutionary Ledru Rollin was forced to flee the country in June 1849.Apeaceful protest against the first president of the republic, the newly elected Louis-Napoléon, turned nas ty. His enemies called it armed insur rection. Three years later Louis-Na poléon staged a coup d’état, re-added Bonaparte to his name and became king of France and better known as Napoléon III. At the age of nine, Georges Leclan ché left his native France for the then calmer shores of England. His first in terest in electricity and batteries were thus stimulated by the enormous im pact Michael Faraday, the inventor of the electric dynamo and much more, had on the wave of interest in science that swept across Britain in the 1830s and 1840s. It was only in 1856 that it was con sidered safe enough for the 17-yearold Leclanché to return to France; he studied metallurgy at the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures in Paris, graduating four years later as a qualified engineer. His first job was a crucial one for the eventual development of his bat tery. Working for the train company, Compagnie des Chemins de fer de l’Est, his job was to develop the ru dimentary electrical systems used for signalling the length of the 500km line to Strasbourg. The problem for signalling in the formative days of the railways was more than just the ability to communicate in the early days of the Morse code — it was creating the infrastructure needed to transmit signals. So it was here that Leclanché started his research into batteries. Battery technology had come some way from Luigi Galvani’s discovery around 1783, the so-called ‘frog leg experiment’— from Galvani’s belief in a form of animal electricity, to the search for a ‘galvanic cell’ based on chemical reactions. Leclanché’s first experiments looked at exploiting the oxidation properties of copper car bonate.Leclanché’s research was inter rupted by yet more political trouble in France. In 1863 a crisis emerged when Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte’s Second Empire came under threat from legislative elections that threat ened to limit his powers. Troops went on the streets. For the second time in his life he went into exile. This time to Brussels, where he lived close to Victor Hugo, the French playwright and family. The exile was to last a further seven years until the end of the Second Em pire.Working in his shed, he continued to experiment and improve on his designs, moving from a battery us ing copper carbonate (which he pat ented in 1866), to one using manga nese, which went on to be shown in 1867 at the Exposition Universelle in Paris, where it was awarded a bronze medal.Until Leclanché, most batteries had been based on Alessandro Volta’s 1800 design. The most popular in Leclanché’s time was Planté’s lead acid battery. In 1860 this had been demonstrated using long foil strips, which were wound spirally with in termediate layers of cloth, then im mersed in a solution of 10% sulph uric acid. This was capable of high power, but also heavy, and the chemi calsLeclanché’sdangerous.cell, called a “wet cell”, replaced Planté’s lead with zinc and a carbon-manganese dioxide mix ture. He also replaced the sulphuric acid with much less toxic ammonium chloride. This meant the cell was lighter; its safety and lightness was considered perfect for use in signal ling, requiring occasional short-burst use and little maintenance.

UNSUNG HEROES: GEORGES LECLANCHÉ www.batteriesinternational.com Batteries International • Summer 2022 • 91

Turbulent chemistry for turbulent times

Leclanché died in September 1882. He was just 43 little knowing he had revolutionized the world

Georges Leclanché, the 19th century scientist and inventor is largely forgotten outside of France. But a billion flashlights across the world wouldn’t be shining without his invention, writes Dominic Cleary.

UNSUNG HEROES: GEORGES LECLANCHÉ 92 • Batteries International • Summer 2022 www.batteriesinternational.com

The year of Marianne’s birth was an important one in the breakthrough of the development of his battery. He succeeded in gelifying the electrolyte through the addition of starch. This immediately made the battery easy to transport.Leclanché formed a partnership with Ernest Barbier and a new Leclan In 1871, the manganese dioxide/carbon mixture was moulded into two blocks, held in place around the 4mm-5mm carbon plate by rubber bands. In a later development, the porous pot was replaced by a canvas container, and the zinc rod changed to a cylinder to increase the surface area and lower the internal resistance

Leclanché’s first battery wasn’t the sealed flashlight-style unit we think of today. Instead, open-topped glass jars, about 20cm high, were used to contain the various chemicals. The first batteries kept the elements separate using a porous pot, allowing the liquid electrolyte to pass through it. In 1871, the manganese dioxide/ carbon mixture was moulded into two blocks, held in place around the 4mm-5mm carbon plate by rubber bands. In a later development, the porous pot was replaced by a canvas container, and the zinc rod changed to a cylinder to increase the surface area and lower the internal resis tance.In1867, only a year after patent ing his invention, he was already so confident of its success that he quit his job to promote the battery. He was helped both by his father’s legal advice, and assistance from a Belgian friend, Charles Mourlon. Mourlon who helped him industri alise the product, put him in contact with the Belgian telegraph service, and after testing, they adopted the Leclanché battery for their network; the Dutch railways did the same, and a workshop was set up in Brussels to produce the batteries for them. In 1871 the Mourlon-Leclanché factory was employing five workers, run from the ground floor of a small white-shuttered building in Brussels on rue d’Aerschot. That year political events at home allowed him to return to Paris with the restoration of what became known as the third republic and the end to the Franco-Prussian war that May. And in one of the ironic twists of history, this time it was Napoléon III’s turn for exile. Captured the Sep tember before in the ineptly handled Battle of Sedan against the Prussians, he was deposed in absentia. He died in England three years later. Leclanché opened a studio at 9, rue de Laval in Paris and settled down. At this point love entered his life and in 1873 he married Gabrielle Clémen tine-Lannes. Two children followed swiftly — Max-Georges in 1874 and Marianne en 1876.

WHAT MADE THE LECLANCHÉ BATTERY SO SUCCESSFUL?

UNSUNG HEROES: GEORGES LECLANCHÉ 94 • Batteries International • Summer 2022 www.batteriesinternational.com ché-Barbier battery was announced. Fate was on his side this time. It was perfectly timed to coincide with the arrival of the telephone — commer cialization of which started in France the following year — as well as the steady boom in rail. Leclanche-Barbi er were the only makers of batteries inAroundFrance. this time his health started to fail. The end came after a long ill ness and he died in September 1882. He was just 43. The story doesn’t end there. His son Max followed in his footsteps, studying chemistry and gaining a doc torate in 1895. He continued research ing and improving the battery, replac ing what had been a porous ceramic pot with a hessian bag to hold the pow dered coal and manganese dioxide mixture. Meanwhile his brother, Mau ritius, took over directing the business, until his death in 1923. The company has changed hands and names many times since and is now part of Alcatel. Leclanché lies buried in the Père-La chaise cemetery in Paris. Perversely, even in death he was unable to escape the turbulent history of his times. Not far from his grave lies the remains of his father’s revolutionary friend Ledru Rol lin which again is just yards away from the famous Mur des Fédérés where 147 revolutionary communards were shot just days before his return from Bel gium.

Leclanché’s first exile followed a peaceful protest against the first president of the republic, the newly elected Louis-Napoléon. Three years later Louis-Napoléon staged a coup d’état, re-added Bonaparte to his name and became king of France and better known as Napoléon III It certainly had drawbacks — it wasn’t rechargeable, it had a lower energy density than other battery designs, it didn’t perform well in temperatures below freezing point, and it could have a tendency to leakage. But it was cheap. It became the first practical commercial battery product. The Leclanché battery became hugely popular for a wide range of domestic uses, due to the low cost of manufacture, and especially the relative safety of the materials, making it. Boosted by the original large-scale production, its profile grew, and it evolved into a wide range of sizes of strengths, from the original 1.5V through to Alexander9V.Graham Bell’s preferred use of the battery for demonstrations of early telephones also helped. Another early modification which improved safety and handling was an innovation by Carl Gassner, who swapped a paste for the liquid that had enabled the transfer of charge, not just in Leclanché’s, but batteries in general.During the 20th century, it proved to be perfect for the growing domestic consumer market. The 1960 Eveready battery handbook devoted a few pages to research on the Leclanché based cells, stating that a higher percentage of carbon gave higher currents, but with a lower capacity. Research like this helped improve the performance by 700% between 1920 and 1990, so it was still finding use in a modified version inside the disposable Polaroid PolaPulse camera.Though they have lost market share in recent years to newer types of longer-lasting alkaline batteries, his battery cells are still among the most popular consumer batteries we have today.

Essential reading - Batteries International magazine WARNINGMAYBEADDICTIVE To receive your complimentary free copy contact Karen Hampton www.batteriesinternational.comTel:publisher@batteriesinternational.comat+441243782275 Each issue includes: n Global news round-up n Exclusive in depth features on new and promising battery and energy storage applications n Case studies of advances in battery productions to bring high performance, cost effective products to market n Analysis and forecasts on different markets and technologies from leading consultants and experts in the field n Examination of policy around the world that is enabling investment and growth in battery and energy storage technologies n Updated events calendar Accurate, intelligent and incisive reporting on the global battery and energy storage technology world

The hirsuitically challenged John — whose shiny pate is indicative of great depths of thought — said it was easy to get past security to the event. “I simply found a friendly colleague and smuggled myself in — look no hands.”

The last word

Batteries International can exclusively reveal the location of the 2024 ELBC event. Yes, it’s Milan. And not Milan, Michigan — but Milan, Italy. An aside, why do Americans want to confuse us with their strange geography? Just think of this year’s BCI muddle of Naples? Next they’ll want to hold it in Rome (Georgia). When questioned the steely-eyed Maura Mc Dermott, playing with her Martel ‘Skinner’ hunting knife in a friendly manner, said the ILA would not confirm or deny it. She did whisper before leaving… “and don’t forget, I know which trailer park you live in”. All were not convinced, however. In the snowy wastes of northern England, a plaintive Steve Barnes crawled out of his igloo to mutter: “How can they be so sure? I still think Austria’s a good capital city for me — I’ll stick with my hunches.”

Yes, Milanit’sfolks!

In search of the Women’s Group scoop

Slava

SpiritUkraini!of Ukraine energizes conference

Congratulations to newshound John Shepherd, and incoming editor to Batteries International, who managed to sneak himself into the WGBI meeting at BCI in May.

Every good batteryman — or woman for that matter — is known to have a genetic imperative to find the perfect electrolyte, especially after a busy conference day. So top marks to Pinflow co-founder Jirí Vrána who adapted his flow battery tank at the IFBF to serve up glasses of the finest Czech beer to delegates. Jirí reckoned the Pilsner had an energy density of 400Wh per litre. Needless to say some managed to drink their week’s units in an evening.

Hats off to Ukrainian Andrii Bondar who turned up at BatteryInternationaltheFlowConference in Brussels to promote his company and country. Andrii, 28, is head of the chemical department at Kness in Vinnytsya, Ukraine, In a show of defiance and resilience, Andrii wore national dress for the IFBF event.

Ale’s well, that ends well

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Batteries International — Issue 124, Summer

Articles inside

BATTERY HEROES: LECLANCHÉ

EVENTS

INTERVIEW

EVENT REVIEWS

LITHIUM: THE SHORTAGES AHEAD

INTERVIEW

Flow battery news round-up

New threat to lead emerges as economics of flow batteries stack up

PEOPLE NEWS

ESS targets expansion in Europe and beyond

NEWS

LEAD PRICE ANALYSIS: CRU

Keeping the price of vanadium down — and steady too

EDITORIAL

Time for deeper re-assessment of the levelized cost of RFB storage