Great european ferment for the battery value chain: Flash Battery attends IPCEI, BEPA and BID assemblies in Bordeaux

This triple appointment is a confirmation that Europe has chosen to take concrete steps towards the creation of an increasingly competitive European battery value chain

Between 13 and 16 November 2023, the French city of Bordeaux was the setting for three major European battery industry events: the general assembly of IPCEI, the pan-European project to support battery research and innovation in Europe; the seventh general assembly of the Battery European Partnership Association – BEPA; and the third edition of Battery Innovation Days, the event organised by the main European research and innovation initiatives (Batteries Europe, Battery 2030+ and BEPA), in collaboration with the first and second IPCEIs, designed to bring together a number of key players and experts in the battery industry to discuss various cross-cutting issues and find concrete solutions for achieving the demanding climate neutrality targets set by the end of 2050.

Together with the main players in the segment – from research institutes and universities to the biggest manufacturers in the industrial world – Flash Battery participated in the three events, pursuing the common goal of exchanging views and networking in order to take concrete steps towards greater competitiveness and sustainability of the entire European battery supply chain.

But let’s look in detail at the main topics covered during these three days fully dedicated to the world of batteries.

IPCEI: Perspectives and challenges of the evolving battery industry

On 13 November 2023, the French Department of Energy (DGE) organised the annual general assembly of the European project on batteries IPCEI, held in Bordeaux at the impressive Cap Sciences museum.

During the assembly, the different project workstreams had the opportunity to present the progress made in their respective research areas, highlighting the main challenges of this important pan-European project.

A key moment of the event was the meeting with the European Commission, which provided valuable feedback on the reports presented during the assembly, highlighting the actions already taken to boost the value chain in the battery sector and, at the same time, focusing the attention on the critical issues and challenges that the sector must face in order to thrive in a changing environment.

Battery Innovation Days: the future of research is in Europe

The Battery Innovation Days, held on 14-15 November 2023, excelled in attracting a large audience, involving more than 1400 total participants between on-site attendance and online connections. The event was therefore a veritable magnet for the entire battery supply chain, from raw materials to recycling, passing through cell, module and system manufacturers, and covered a wide range of cross-cutting topics.

The dense agenda of talks included numerous debates on topics such as the role of gigafactories in accelerating battery development, research efforts to foster the widespread adoption of electric mobility, developments and potential of next-generation technologies and cells such as sodium batteries, the latest regulatory updates, and much more.

How to reach climate neutrality goals

Among the key aspects which emerged, stood out the need to collaborate at the ecosystem level in order to realise Europe’s ambitious climate neutrality goals. In this perspective, an essential role is played by artificial intelligence models, which will be able to accelerate battery time to market.

Directly from the New European Battery Regulation, there was much talk about the Battery Passport, which will constitute a sort of ‘minimum entry level‘ for batteries on the market. Battery producers will, then, need to disclose battery essential information, including sustainability requirements, providing data on the carbon footprint of battery production processes and enabling their traceability. This tool will be a key element in discouraging poor quality products from entering the european market.

As was the case with the European Battery Regulation, much was also said about the Critical Raw Materials Act, which is currently being discussed and is expected by the end of the year. This Act could bring major changes to the battery value chain and aims to ensure a safe, diversified and sustainable supply of so-called critical raw materials by reducing Europe’s dependence on imports and introducing minimum requirements that manufacturers will have to meet.

BEPA: the importance of partnerships to ensure a competitive European battery value chain

Finally, on 16 November 2023 took place the seventh general assembly of the BEPA association , the private association of BATT4EU, the battery partnership set up at the end of 2020 by the European Commission under the Horizon Europe Framework Programme, of which we are a member and whose main objective is to create a European value chain for industrial batteries that is competitive, circular and sustainable.

During the assembly, the association received the appreciation of the European Commission for its significant contribution, offered through its Working Groups, in defining priority topics for battery R&D, covering the entire battery value chain, from material sourcing to recycling.

The members of the association, which has recently welcomed new participants, were also presented with the vision of the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda – SRIA, in which the progress made since 2020 was shown, focusing on the topics that the various Working Groups will have to work on in the coming meetings.

If in the field of production, the dominant themes remained unchanged, concerning the need to develop safe and sustainable batteries, processes with a high environmental sustainability content and the development of digital twin; on the other hand, as far as mobility is concerned, the committee’s set numerous new goals.

Among the dominant themes were the development of a thermal management system in hostile conditions, the implementation of high-performance, cost-efficient and high-security batteries, the use of cloud-based data, the introduction of faster and virtualised testing, and the realisation of demonstrators.

HAVE A LOOK AT THE EVENT PHOTOGALLERY HERE