European Union

EU leaders have released a long-awaited ‘strategic action plan’ that says batteries should be at the heart of future industrial strategy.

But lead-acid was not even mentioned (unlike lithium) in the document— published as part of the outgoing European Commission’s ‘State of the Energy Union’ report: ‘Implementation of the Strategic Action Plan on Batteries: Building a Strategic Battery Value Chain in Europe.’

For a full report, see the latest— Spring 2019— edition of Batteries and Energy Storage Technology magazine, out now! If you’re not a subscriber, click here to subscribe.

Germany has pledged to pump €1 billion (US$1.1bn) into promoting battery cell production by 2021— with the aim of German and European producers “supplying 30% of global demand” by 2030.

The head of the federal economic affairs and energy ministry, Peter Altmaier, also revealed a “new battery cell consortium” could be formed in Germany around the end of this year.

The European Union is pledging to throw additional cash at projects that support plans for an EU-wide battery cell manufacturing industry to compete with Asia.

The move comes one-year after the launch of the EU Batteries Alliance initiative— which has been heavily criticised for favouring investments in lithium-based technologies for future electric vehicles while attacking the bloc’s lead-acid industry.

Now EU energy chief and European Commission vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič, has said around €1 million of new funding could be made available under a newly-launched ‘Interregional Partnership for Batteries’ (IPB)— “to promote European cooperation across public authorities, research, and industry” in support of the Batteries Alliance.