VP of the European Battery Alliance stated that the EC was currently supporting 70 battery projects which could potentially create 4 million jobs by 2025
The Vice President of the European Commission, Maroš Šefčovič recently reported that by 2025, Europe is set to become the second biggest manufacturer of lithium-ion battery cells in the world. The statement
Maroš Šefčovič addressing the recent meeting of the EBA, Credit: EBA website
was given by Šefčovič at the conclusion of a high-level meeting of the European Battery Alliance. The Alliance is European Commission’s initiative to generate multinational support for creating a domestic production base and supply chain for battery storage systems on a huge scale. Šefčovič stated that almost 70 industrial projects were being supported by the Alliance with the potential to create up to 4 million jobs in the next few years.
The recent meeting of the Alliance was to measure the progress of current projects it is supporting and also to chart the way forward. The meeting revealed that while most projects were proceeding ahead of schedule and had decided to raise their initial capacities, maximum progress had been achieved in the manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries. Šefčovič said: “Despite the pandemic, Europe continues to be a battery hotspot, closing the investment gap to our major Asian competitors, and [moving fast] towards its open strategic autonomy in this critical sector. Many of the battery investments have recently advanced their timelines and raised their expected output capacity. The production of lithium-ion cell batteries has shown the most progress – and by 2025, we are now set to become the second largest battery cell producer in the world, behind China.”
The European Battery Alliance was started with the purpose of creating an innovative, competitive and sustainable battery value chain in the continent. The growth of the energy storage sector is evident from the fact that early this year, 4 years since its inception, the Alliance has encouraged the European Commission to approve €2.9 billion in funding to support research into four core stages in battery manufacture: the mining of raw materials, battery cell design, battery systems and supply chain recycling.
