Battery Cells & Systems Expo passed off at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre, England, with some important considerations around geopolitical issues, cells and testing. Andrew Draper was there.
Galyen, NAATBatt CTO and CTO of Chinese battery maker CATL (2012–19), told his audience that we are going through another industrial revolution – driven by electrification. “Because there’s damn near nothing in the world today that isn’t powered by a battery in some way, shape or form.”
Geopolitical challenges and opportunities exist almost in every country around the world, he said. “They’ve got materials or minerals that are necessary to build batteries. Many of the leaderships of those countries are utilising those to create value for their countries.”
He said the importance of battery materials like lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite is “absolutely essential” to building great energy storage devices.
National security issue
The current global distribution of these critical minerals is so important to every society around the world because it has become a national security issue for many countries.
He said China manufactures or processes 66–99% of all the raw materials in the world. This includes rare earth metals used in permanent magnet motors and also has significant process capabilities for graphite, lithium, cobalt and nickel.
The US has responded with the Inflation Reduction Act and its growing interest in securing supply chain and domestic sources is “pretty impressive”, he added.
In Nevada, they are harvesting lithium and in Alabama, work is ongoing to get graphite out of the ground, he said.
These are all important and the US has shown that it wants to work with the rest of the world, but the US does have a list of foreign entities of concern it is afraid of doing business with, he added. He noted Chile and Argentina have substantial lithium reserves.
DRC concerns
The Democratic Republic of the Congo presents concerns for many companies because of the type of labour used in cobalt production, Galyen said. He later told BEST that many companies are tackling this and some, such as CATL and Tesla, actually send people to the DRC to police production and ensure decent standards.
International shipping is also an issue of potential concern due to tension in the Middle East.
Fresh tariffs by the Biden administration on Chinese EVs are “a direct slap in the face of China”, which will draw a retaliatory strike, he predicted.
China’s President Xi Jinping has moved to restrict exports of advanced technology from China, while older technology is allowed out. Graphite exports have also been restricted.
Galyen forecast disputes over territories and trade routes. He said price volatility drives fluctuations in demand, not least in lithium, which can have a devastating effect on battery costs.
Market monopolisation or supply chain restrictions can lead to price manipulation, he said. “If you get nickel out of Indonesia, more than likely they’re going to force you to build a battery plant there.”
Alisa Deng, sales manager with Chinese company Jiangxi Ningxin New Material Co, an exhibitor at the expo, told BEST that export restrictions had not made much difference to their business.
It specialises in R&D, production and sales of special graphite. It produces 10,000 tons of special graphite a year, which it said makes Ningxin the Chinese leader in the domestic industry.
More international cooperation
Galyen called for more international governmental cooperation to get around geopolitical tensions. “The importance of continuing research and innovation and battery technology can’t be emphasised enough. New breakthroughs and technology will value all of mankind,” he said.
He noted that CATL has 20,000 people working in nothing but research, a significant increase since his time there just a few years ago. “We are 10–12 years behind China in terms of technology,” he said.
From research to industry
A later session posed the question of how the UK could address economies-of-scale and turn world-leading research into world-leading industry. Dr Thomas Bartlett, deputy director of the Faraday Battery Challenge at the UK government’s Innovate UK agency, announced £1.5 million ($1.9 million) in funding for four start-ups.
They include battery maker Volklec, ultra-fast charging battery company Nyobolt, LTO technology company Snapfast, and Altilium, which plans to demonstrate battery cell manufacturing at-scale using sustainable, low-carbon cathode active material (CAM) from recycled end-of-life EV batteries.
Projects involve cylindrical and pouch cell technologies. They will bring advanced lithium titanate oxide battery technology and a new CAM to the UK, he said.
James Gaade, director of research programme at the Faraday Institution, told the audience there are gaps in the UK battery landscape that it needs to fill to become internationally competitive.
“So even with the announcements – and what Nissan are doing in the northeast, JLR in the South, hopefully something in the Midlands as well, that still doesn’t really get you to 150GWh,” he said. He noted the UK has some niche areas like high performance motor aerospace.
Battery testing and safety
Safety in battery testing was addressed on day two. Markus Welte of Weiss Technik and Kevin Campbell of Digatron outlined developments in battery testing. Laboratories are increasing in complexity, according to Campbell, and this can limit space. Third party products like temperature chambers are adding to the complexity mix.
Other features include automated safety functions like fire suppression, customised software, hardware and air conditioning.
EUCAR (European Council for Automotive R&D of the major European passenger car and commercial vehicle manufacturers) sets out various levels of hazard level protection within testing chambers. EUCAR 6 includes permanent monitoring of gas levels in testing area atmosphere and nitrogen permanent inertisation, as well as chamber temperature monitoring, secure door locks and fastenings.
Welte highlighted the importance of identifying potential risks when carrying out testing, including of cells going into thermal runaway and reaching temperatures of 700°C. Rupture and explosion of cells result in disintegration and flying parts.
He said new materials and testing beyond limits require more attention to safety, and outgassing of batteries means lower explosion limits (LELs) will sometimes be exceeded. Test chambers must be able to withstand pressure and forces for safe testing, and destructive and non-destructive testing require different solutions, he said.
The chambers also have to be tested to ensure the safety of operators and infrastructure, he said.
The event brought together four industries (battery technologies plus EV development, advanced materials and ceramics). Open conference sessions, at times running simultaneously alongside a busy exhibition area, made for a rather noisy environment.
