The major challenges to address with battery R&D

EUROBAT discusses the importance of continued battery innovation and outlines potential areas to be addressed by battery research and development.

Eurobat is the association of Automotive and Industrial Battery Manufacturers and their subcontractors in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Representing the European battery industry, EUROBAT covers all mainstream battery chemistries available on the market: lithium, lead, nickel, and sodium.

Battery innovation is an ongoing process, in the 19th century it was basically driven by continuous efforts to develop a robust longer-lasting source of electricity that could provide reliable energy and power output. This effort resulted in lead-based battery products, a technology that has been a cornerstone for centuries and is still successfully used in today’s applications.

In the 20th century, battery innovation was driven by the emerging applications of the time, such as portable electronics, telecommunication, automotive vehicles, railway rolling stock, aviation, ships and submarines, satellites and the need for Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS). Each application demanded more specific battery characteristics, resulting in significant diversification of battery products. The development of lithium-ion batteries in the late 20th century complimented the widely used, affordable and proven safe lead-based technologies, thanks to their higher energy density and relatively low weight.

Today’s drivers for battery innovation are broader and more complex. Not only are batteries optimised with specific characteristics for specific applications, they are developed to meet Europe’s objectives regarding the environment, energy independency, security of raw materials supply, and further electrification of transportation and other sectors. In this new context, EUROBAT initiated a White Paper Batteries Innovation Roadmap 2030 in June 2020. This was updated in June 2022 in order to re-assess the market and technology evolutions for all four mainstream and future promising technologies, in relation to the applications they serve.

The roadmap highlights the state-of-the-art and innovation potential of each of the various mainstream chemistries.

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