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Our key takeaway from this great event is that the secular growth of the battery industry continues. The crisis due to COVID-19 is expected to cause only a temporary
slowdown during 2020 (for example presentation by Avicenne Energy).
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Diverging opinions exist regarding solid-state batteries. Speakers from large current Li-ion battery suppliers (such as Bob Gaylen, recently retired from CATL and Celina Mikolajczak, Panasonic)
pointed out the high costs and significant time necessary to scale up production for a new technology to the scale of liquid electrolyte Li-ion batteries.
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At the same time, many established automotive players (such as Toyota, VW, Hyundai/Kia, Ford, Daimler, BMW) see a chance in establishing increased vertical integration
by bringing a solid-state battery technology to market, frequently in collaboration with startups.
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b-science.net hosted the virtual breakout discussion on 'solid-state
batteries - key technology approaches & time-to-market', in which insightful discussions took place between attendees from big corporations, startups and academia.
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In parallel, improvements are being made regarding the incorporation of silicon-containing composite material anodes into existing liquid electrolyte Li-ion battery
manufacturing processes (e.g. by Sila Nanotechnologies).
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Prof. Whittingham (Nobel laureate in chemistry 2019) and Prof. Dahn pointed out opportunities and challenges with regards to high energy cathode materials, while Andrew Miller from Benchmark Minerals
pointed out how resource bottlenecks could occur by 2026 regarding lithium, cobalt and potentially also nickel.
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Further efforts towards increased energy density, reduced cobalt content in cathode materials and recycling are therefore crucial.
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