Can the EU's battery localization plan be successful?

　　The European Battery Alliance (EBA), which is backed by the European Union,  has launched a new action plan, hoping to use 90% of the market demand for  battery products in EU member states by 2030.

　　The European Battery Alliance (EBA) was established in 2017 to address  future industrial challenges. By 2021, the European Battery Alliance (EBA) has  invested 127 billion euros ($138.7 billion) to develop and build the battery  manufacturing value chain in Europe.

　　(The first batteries Northvolt produced at the Swedish Gigafactory late  last year)

　　However, the European Battery Alliance (EBA) said after a high-level  industry meeting before the end of March that it would take until 2030 for the  EU to create a self-sufficient battery industry, which would require additional  investment of 382 billion euros during that period. Once the battery  manufacturing value chain is established, the market opportunity for the  European battery industry will reach approximately EUR 250 billion per year by  2025.

　　More than 750 industry and innovation groups are among the cooperating  members of the alliance, which is named EBA250. The EU is developing and  building more than 180 industrial projects, including 47 battery projects.

　　Existing support mechanisms include battery projects worth over 20 billion  euros with Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) status, and  research projects committed to nearly 1 billion euros in the Horizon Europe  European research programme by 2027.

　　As in the United States, battery technology has been identified as an  important part of Europe's energy future, especially as the electric vehicle  (EV) and battery energy storage systems industries have been booming in Europe  for some time now. The importance of this is reinforced by recent events such as  the Covid-19 pandemic wreaking havoc on supply chains, driving up transportation  and importing costs of battery materials and finished products, the  Russian-Ukrainian conflict, and ongoing energy price spikes.

　　The European Battery Alliance, led by European Commission Vice-President  Maroš Šefčovič and coordinated by the EU's innovation accelerator programme EIT  InnoEnergy, has identified issues and gaps that still must be addressed.

　　While there is no doubt that significant progress has been made, gaps in  the upstream and downstream sectors of the industry, as well as in workforce  skills, need to be filled to create what the EBA250 calls a “resilient  end-to-end battery industry”. Upstream, this means addressing issues around raw  material extraction and processing, refining and battery-grade materials;  downstream, around end-of-life battery recycling and manufacturing scrap and  reintroducing recycled materials into the value chain.

　　At a recent industry meeting, participants agreed that one of the immediate  priority actions is the swift passage of the EU Battery Regulation Act, which  will gradually introduce carbon footprint labelling and recycling of batteries  manufactured and sold in the EU. content requirements, etc.

　　The regulation is currently at the stage of negotiation with various EU  member states to determine how it will be implemented in different parts of the  EU market. The European Battery Alliance (EBA) has said that sustainability  could be an important aspect for European battery producers to improve their  competitiveness.

　　Members of the European Battery Alliance (EBA) believe the regulation,  which includes a "battery passport" that allows tracking of equipment and  materials, should have strict rules. On a related note, the European Flow  Battery Industry Association stated that battery technologies such as flow  batteries are currently excluded from the "battery passport" and therefore  advocates their inclusion.

　　The European Battery Alliance (EBA) said legislation should also be passed  to put batteries at the heart of the EU's decarbonisation plan, which includes  the decarbonisation of electric vehicles and the adoption of renewable energy,  along with measures to support and reduce battery raw materials and processing  Material Ventures.

　　The new target set in the European Battery Strategic Action Plan last  published in 2018 was to be extended to 2025, and this updated plan will extend  to 2030.

　　The ambition and goal of the new scheme is to achieve 100% recycling  coverage, with 40% of active materials used in EU manufacturing sourced within  its member states and 90% of battery manufacturing from Europe. The value  created is expected to skyrocket from €250 billion in 2025 to €625 billion in  2030. The European goal is to be able to meet the 1TWh battery demand for  electric vehicles, energy storage systems (ESS) and other industries.

　　This plan seems to be very comprehensive and exciting, but SES Power  believes that the battery industry, especially the lithium battery industry  chain is very large and complex, which includes mining, smelting, chemical  industry, machinery manufacturing, electronics industry, information and  communication, etc. etc. branch content. SES Power's off-grid, grid-connected,  and off-grid small and medium-sized energy storage systems, such as 12V100Ah,  24V100Ah, 36V100Ah, 48V100Ah using EVE, CATL, BYD square aluminum-shell lithium  iron phosphate batteries, 3KW, 5KW home energy storage the system, rack-mounted  energy storage system and other products all adopt standard RS485, CAN and other  communication protocols, and also support remote monitoring and operation. At  the same time, AI intelligent analysis and cloud storage are added to the new  generation of systems. In fact, SES Power is only a position in the value chain  of the lithium battery industry.

　　Now China, South Korea, and Japan in East Asia are the leaders in the  battery industry. We see that they have spent almost 20 to 30 years to perfect  all the supporting facilities. Can the EU significantly reduce this time?  Another very important factor is cost. There is no doubt that the cost of  manufacturing in China is indeed low enough, but we must also see that China's  electricity supply is very sufficient and stable. After all, electricity is the  cornerstone of all industrial production.