A further step forward for batteries in the EU's clean energy and clean mobility transition

On 22 October 2019, the general assembly of “Batteries Europe” took place in Brussels. This platform is the research and innovation strand of the European Battery Alliance and is an important initiative of the Commission's Strategic Action Plan on Batteries.

The event gathered over 200 companies and research organisations along the batteries value chain as well as representatives of Member States and European regions. It was opened by the Director-General of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy, Ditte Juul Jørgensen, together with Diego Pavia (CEO of Innoenergy). The Director-General stressed the role of Batteries Europe in:

• delivering a strong research and innovation strategy on batteries along the whole value chain. The strategy should help industry and governments make good choices for their research spending on batteries. At EU level,  this strategy will provide the framework for the battery partnership foreseen under the Horizon Europe programme;
• fostering cooperation between numerous battery research and innovation initiatives at EU, national and company levels. These include the future batteries partnership under Horizon Europe, Member State-led Important projects of common European interest (IPCEIs) on battery research and innovation, and Interregional partnership on advanced battery materials.

In addition, the general assembly elected Batteries Europe’s first Governing Board – see below – thereby putting in place a strategic decision-making body composed of high-level representatives along the whole value chain.

Elected Governing Board Members 2019/2020

Chair                                                     Michael Lippert, SAFT (France)

Vice-Chair                                             Paolo Cerruti, Northvolt (Sweden)

Vice-Chair                                             Tobias Lösche-ter Horst, Volkswagen (Germany)

Future and emerging technologies       Rosa Palacin Peiro, CSIC (Spain)

Raw materials and recycling                 Jarkko Hakkarainen, Outotec (Finland)

Advanced materials                              Kurt Vandeputte, Umicore (Belgium)

Cell design and manufacturing             Stefano Saguatti, Manz Italy SRL (Italy)

Mobile applications                               Matthias Brendel, AVL List GmBH (Austria)

Stationary applications                         Etienne Brière, EDF (France)

The aim of Batteries Europe is to foster research and innovation into battery technology and federate the different battery funding initiatives. Battery technology is indispensable for the success of the clean energy transition and e-mobility, and a key element of the EU’s long-term decarbonisation strategy to become climate-neutral by 2050.

Related links

• Batteries Europe
• European Battery Alliance -strategic action plan for batteries
• Battery 2030+, a large scale initiative on future battery technologies (EC Directorate-General Digital single market)