China has been experiencing a renewables boom for years, and recently, there has been a boom in electricity storage systems. However, storage systems are an expensive safety net. Design flaws in the energy system make their rapid expansion necessary.
By Nico Beckert
The Swedish company Northvolt is expected to be allowed to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles in Schleswig-Holstein starting in 2026. The German car industry hopes that this will reduce its dependence on Asia.
By Fabian Peltsch
Chinese EV manufacturer Nio will cooperate with automakers Changan and Geely in battery swapping. In Germany, at least for German automakers, this technology is not an option. However, it might be a possibility in China.
By
The EU Commission wants to suspend tariffs on EVs from and for the UK for a further three years. However, they will definitely be introduced from 2027.
By Alina Leimbach
China tightly controls about three-quarters of global refined cobalt production. Its share in chemical refining for the production of batteries is even larger. China thus dominates the global supply chain for lithium batteries – from the ore to processing, from active materials to cells, and ultimately to the packs.
By Experts Table.Briefings
CATL is investing billions in a battery cell production facility in Debrecen, Hungary. Locally, this is not going down well with everyone; there are demonstrations and complaints. The battery giant has so far tried in vain to appease the citizens.
By Amelie Richter
Implementing active industrial policy measures has gained increasing traction in the European Union in recent years, at least to some degree contemplating approaches now that China has already employed and perfected for the past decades. One of the focal points of the industrial policy debate in the EU is battery production. A good occasion for taking a look at how China has played its industrial policy game some years ago.
By Experts Table.Briefings
The e-car industry is booming, technologies are developing. Battery cells are needed everywhere. So it is not surprising that new batteries from China are desired. After all, China's largest battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) is the global number one in batteries. As a result, the dependence of the automotive and technology industries on Chinese battery suppliers is also growing. In addition, China has two-thirds of the deposits of critical raw materials such as antimony and barite and other rare earths that are elemental to drone, battery and robot production. As a result, China is also among the top three global suppliers, well ahead of the U.S. and Russia. However, even China does not have all the raw materials and supplies, so there was an increased shortage of computer chips, especially during the coronavirus crisis. This is because the Chinese battery industry could not keep up with the booming e-industry and supply shortages. And yet, the Chinese battery industry is growing steadily. For the Chinese battery manufacturer CATL wants to supply an alternative to lithium batteries with sodium-ion batteries. BYD, on the other hand, is working on its blade technology, which has a lower fire risk. This is because it contains a lithium-iron-phosphate battery. GAC, on the other hand, claims to have produced a square hard-shell cell with an energy density of 275 Wh per kilogram. The variety of battery cells demonstrates the Chinese industry's edge. From joint ventures of suppliers to supply bottlenecks to recycling and investment in and of batteries - news on new batteries from China from Table.Redaktion.
