The two pillars or two Ts of US Battery Shows are the TESLA Wolf Pack and Dr. Tobias Glossmann“.
The Advanced Automotive Battery Conference 2024 gave us a confirmation of that.
1. The TESLA Wolf Pack in full swing.
Plenary keynote by legendary Kurt Kelty, followed by Anil Paryani, Colin Campbell, respectively at GM, Ford, Redwood Materials: a realistic look at what the new-normal of the electrification path is going to be like – a priority for the battery supply chain.
Also, hints about where Regulators should focus on. This industry is ‘Sitting in Limbo’ (until Jan 21).
Celina Mikolajczak, fresh from the Cuberg’s facility acquisition made by Lyten (great timing and shortcut to market, by the way) spoke to a large audience on her approach to Li-S manufacturing.
“Perfect is the enemy of Good”, the Romans used to say, and Celina explicitly referred to that mindset – dry coating can wait, it’s not needed for the first stage of Li-S commercialization; plus it’s hard and costly.
(Some prefer to avoid generating hype).
All in all, the Tesla alumni are on the forefront of this Industry.
2. Another pillar in the Li-S debate is Dr. Tobias Glossmann, from Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America, Inc. A scientist and a model of networking.
He stressed the importance of analyzing the structure of the Lithium metal that is built at charging, in terms of grain size, defects, SEI, crystallographic orientation. Lithium’s tendency to creep needs to be considered when defining test protocols for these cells.
More in general, Tobias advised that test protocols and battery managements systems must be adapted when it comes to new battery technologies, instead of carrying them over from Li-ion.
3. Refreshing presence on stage of thought leader Mark Szendro, CEO at BASF TODA America Battery Materials LLC and Director of Battery Materials North America. Nothing less than an appeal to realism as a way out of the current industry dive: adaptability to market’s selection (in terms of cathode chemistry), localization of the value chain with ‘competitive enough’ suppliers, strict compliance to regulations, giving centrality to sustainability.
Somehow, there are several solutions but no options to go around all that.
4. The tough life of start-ups in the Batteries domain, analyzed by Dr. Katharina Gerber, now at Siemens Digital Industries Software: cost of prototyping, challenges in manufacturing, reiterations, upscaling; gaps in skills, failing partnerships.
Again: sitting in limbo, one could wonder what can happen to the material science start-ups if the DOE funds were cut: the no-filter, sharp as a razor guy to see is Aubert Demaray, director of Operations at SpectraPower – perfectly aligned with what I previously heard from Katharina.
Other topics:
- Sodium-ion Batteries are silently (?) creating a niche – it’s probably already on the DoE radar.
- Lithium extraction in the US compared to other countries. A key topic – ask Ken Hoffman, CFA.