Page 56 - ESJ – ENERGY STORAGE JOURNAL

EVENT REVIEW: THE BATTERY SHOW EUROPE 2019

Although the conference and for an emission-free future and a Eu- might these support a localised
the exhibition started on the Tues- ropean battery supply chain. supply chain?
day, there were two pre-conference The theme is extraordinarily rel- • How will the opening of manu-
workshops on the Monday. evant when put into context — it is facturing facilities in Europe
In the morning, the first workshop no secret that Asian manufacturers by Asian cell makers impact the
looked at specifying thermal man- continue to dominate lithium ion market?
agement solutions to optimize bat- battery production. In China the • Will cell makers evolve to be-
tery safety and performance — a adoption of electric vehicles and come module manufacturers, cre-
highly topical issue given the recent the strength of the lithium ion bat- ating and owning their own tier
lithium blaze in Arizona in April that tery industry has been largely due to of the market and moving into
sent four fire-fighters to hospital. extensive government support and the battery integration space?
Atendees heard about reducing funding. • How will European-based manu-
cost and increasing speed to market “Over the past five years the facturing impact the supply chain
through virtual battery design and growth of the energy storage sector and the market?
simulation. This proved particularly in China has outpaced the global
relevant with delegates the follow- market by six times,” said the con- Industry response to these plans
ing day whern they were able to toy ference agenda. “In the face of this was highlighted by European bat-
with used virtual reality packages competition and in light of the re- tery industry heavyweights in the
to examine products at a couple of quirement to lower emissions to plenary session such as Leclan-
stands. meet environmental legislation, sig- ché and Saft.
The second workshop was held in nificant investments must be made Anil Srivastava, chief executive of
the afternoon. Titled ‘Fast charging in Europe’s automotive and large- Leclanché, and responsible for the
and XFC infrastructure evolution format battery industries. turn-around of the traditional lead
and impact’ it continued the theme “Failure to do so could undermine battery firm into a lithium chemistry
of fast charging. Europe’s ability to compete on the one, talked the talk eloquently.
This yet again continues to be a automotive and industrial stage.” He argued that Europe had the
topical theme — although some The session titled ‘Realising a Eu- competency, the resources, the fi-
OEMs are claiming that range anxi- ropean based battery value chain’ nance and the regulations that
ety is now a thing of the past (it aimed to address the following is- would enable the continent to be-
isn’t), all are aware that until the sues. come a world leader.
majority of consumers can charge • What is necessary to make Many in the audience were en-
their vehicles in roughly the same European-based cell manufac- thused but others remarked that
time as filling them with petrol, turing cost competitive with the Asia already had a five year leap in
mass adoption will be problematic. Asian market? experience in manufacturing and in
The following day there were • What role should/can govern- volume. Their potential to squash —
swarms of people queuing to storm ments play in creating a Euro- economically at least — an emerging
the exhibition hall. pean supply chain? European gigafactory market could
The conference started with a bang • What is necessary to enable even happen in the next couple of
too as Jim Greenberger, the head of a low-cost localised battery years.
NAATBatt international, opened manufacturing supply chain in
the plenary session introducing the Europe? The next Battery Show Europe will
keynote speech from the European • What are the OEMs’ strategies be held on April 28-30, 2020, in
Commission outlining its strategies on battery sourcing and how Stuttgart, Germany.

54 • Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2019 www.energystoragejournal.com