Batteries Archives

Despite its clear potential for clean transportation, electro-mobility still does not seem to be the motor driving Europe’s economic, climate, and industrial policy, writes Folker Franz.

American electric carmaker Tesla is reportedly on the hunt for locations in Germany to build one of its gigafactories, according to local media. Adding a European base of operations could help Elon Musk's firm avoid the worst effects of an ongoing trade war between the US and China.

An all-electric ferry, purported to be the world’s largest, completed its first voyage between two Danish islands last week, as the shipping sector gears up for strict new emission laws due to take effect in 2020.

A new industry association was launched in Brussels last week with the aim of bringing together all the players in the supply chain of rare earth metals, which are vital to renewable and low-carbon technologies.

The prototype of a solar-powered electric vehicle (EV) able to travel 720km on a single charge was officially unveiled in Katwijk, the Netherlands today (25 June).

China has scrapped its list of recommended battery suppliers, the industry ministry said on Monday (24 June), a decision foreign companies said could open up the world’s biggest market for electric vehicle batteries.

Swedish start-up Northvolt Wednesday (12 June) announced it had secured funding, in large part from Volkswagen, for Europe's biggest car battery factory, set to rival electric carmaker Tesla's US "Gigafactory". The battery producer said it had completed a $1 billion equity …

An EU research group is creating a certification method for raw materials, to be completed by 2021. The project is part of a push to sustainably mine the metals needed for Europe’s clean energy transition. But critics say certification is not the answer.

Scotland and Wales plan to embrace battery power in order to solve their respective clean energy and employment challenges. Scotland will link a 50MW “super battery" to a wind farm, while Wales wants to invest in battery production.

British climate targets will require the current annual global production of cobalt to double by 2050, in order to satisfy electric vehicle growth demands. A large increase in other raw materials will also be needed, according to UK scientists.

Germany will extend for another year a bonus scheme to encourage people to buy electric cars, Die Welt reported on Thursday (30 May), another sign of Berlin’s eagerness to support a sector in which it lags US and Asian rivals.

Formula One’s electric cousin came to Berlin’s defunct Tempelhof Airport on Saturday (25 May), in the latest round of a rapidly advancing sport. Formula E’s fortunes have progressed hand-in-hand with those of electric vehicles in general.

The upper house of the German parliament voted on Friday (17 May) to allow e-scooters onto the country’s streets, as the new urban vehicle continue to take Europe by storm.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is on the verge of granting €350 million to a Swedish company for what will be Europe’s first mega-sized battery factory, the EU lender announced on Thursday (16 May).

Daimler, one of the world’s leading producers of premium cars and commercial vehicles, has announced new commitments to make its entire passenger car fleet carbon neutral by the close of 2039. This is the most ambitious timeline among any of the leading automakers and signals a rapid acceleration in the shift towards zero-carbon transport, writes Nigel Topping.

Germany's Economy and Energy Minister Peter Altmaier met with Claire Stam from EURACTIV Germany. Among other things, they discussed the 'New Silk Road', the battery alliance with France, climate change and power lines between northern and southern Germany.

The scientific literature remains sceptical about trucks becoming battery-operated due to the cost and weight of large battery packs. But that could change soon as costs of battery packs continues to fall, writes Björn Nykvist.

As the EU gears up for a big refresh after May’s elections, there is growing consent among business leaders that incoming policymakers should refocus attention and resources on industrial policy, particularly in the continent's most valuable sectors.

France and Germany launched an Airbus-style €6 billion foray into the battery-building business on Thursday (2 May), as the EU's attempts to corner a slice of a growing global market started to pay off.

US electric car maker Tesla expects global shortages of nickel, copper and other battery minerals down the road due to underinvestment in the mining sector, the company’s global supply manager for battery metals told an industry conference on Thursday (2 May), according to two sources.

Central Europe falls under the EU average of electric vehicle market penetration. But it doesn’t want to be left behind by the global trend, leaping into battery production and dreaming even bigger. EURACTIV's network partners report.

Norway now has approximately 200,000 electric cars, which constitute around 7% of the passenger car fleet. The exemption of purchase tax and VAT are among the financial incentives that made this possible, writes Jon Georg Dale.

As electric vehicles begin to soar in popularity, one of the key members of the European Commission's in-house think-tank, Sami Andoura, asks: does Europe want to take the lead on electro-mobility or not?

Northvolt CEO Peter Carlsson wants to build Europe’s largest battery cell plant – in the middle of the Swedish countryside. In an interview, he explained how this should work and gave his thoughts on his new partner Volkswagen’s electromobility offensive.