![]() It really is all about the quality and cost of the technology, he adds: “Even national customers won’t buy European made batteries if there is much better technology available from a foreign supplier.” “We are more concerned about the performance, price and the availability, and not so much the national heritage.” “Korean and Chinese companies are ahead and as long as they are investing in battery plants in Germany that is fine for us battery cell technology is very complex and there is no one-size-fits-all or one company that covers all the technologies,” says Schulz. Schulz says it of course would be hugely beneficial to have production in Germany and Europe to ease logistics and transportation woes, but the supplier doesn’t need to be German-owned. The company sources various battery cells form different suppliers mostly across Asia but also the US. “From our point of view, electrification will be one of the biggest transformations over the next decade and in Europe we need to have a strong battery industry but this is not only about producing battery cells but systems and this is what we are focusing on,” he says. Sven Schulz, CEO of AKASOL AG, a German company that builds battery systems, is advocating for open competition between manufacturers. However, not everyone agrees that getting involved in commodities and building batteries from scratch is necessary for German and European success in the EV and wider battery market. “We need an efficient system in place for collecting and recycling batteries because there is lots of value in doing that this could be one way for Europe to have a high-volume production,” he says. This is another area already dominated by China, but Normark says there are plans for 50% of supply of recycled materials in Europe and several initiatives underway. However, another route to battery cell production for Europe, says Normark, is to develop a recycling sector. ![]() The minerals producer has already inked agreements with Tesla, BMW AG, and battery producer LG Chem. Similarly, European automotive companies have also been scrambling to source supply of key minerals, with Volkswagen signing a ten year supply deal with Chinese supplier Ganfeng Lithium. “We have started to build and increase our access to the raw materials, though it takes time,” says Normark, “It would be completely unacceptable if we arrived at a situation where we don’t have mining resources in Europe to support the battery industry.” It is also considering the potential to source from Australia. ![]() He notes, however, how Europe is fighting back with new activity planned in Finland, which has some of the largest lithium refiners, albeit Chinese owned, and Spain. ![]() “China was smart by securing battery mining resources very early we could have done the same in Europe,” says Normark. One major challenge for European lithium-ion battery producers is establishing access to the necessary raw materials, such as nickel, lithium and cobalt, says Bo Normark, thematic leader, smart grids and storage at InnoEnergy.Ĭhina in particular, has been lapping up the supply of key minerals in line with its national aim to have 12% of all cars produced by local manufacturers electric by 2020. The country currently has control of around 85% of global supply of cobalt, a key component in lithium-ion batteries. Furthermore, in June, InnoEnergy, an affiliated EU accelerator, will establish an Investment Platform to create an additional flow of €70bn into EU-based projects. Notably, in May the EIB agreed on a €350m loan for a Northvolt Giga-factory in Sweden, which could serve as reference for other investors and future projects, says Sefcovic. Founder, EC VP, Marc Sefcovic says €1bn has already been announced for flagship projects covering the entire supply chain, supported in large part by the European Investment Bank (EIB).
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