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IMAGE: The coating of the electrodes is one of many process steps in complex battery cell production.
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Credit: WWU - MEET
Research on manufacturing battery cells is gaining momentum - and there is a strong need, considering the future demand for energy storage: For the year 2030, global production of rechargeable batteries will double from today's 750 gigawatt hours (GWh) per year to 1,500 GWh. A recently published review article in the magazine "
Nature Energy" on cell production of various battery types suggests that the currently established lithium-ion batteries (LIB) dominate the market of rechargeable high-energy batteries in the coming years. Alternative battery technologies, in particular solid batteries, but also lithium-sulphur or lithium-air batteries are being researched intensively, but production on an industrial large scale is not yet taking place. Based on currently numerous emerging production capacities for LIBs, a switch to so-called post-lithium-ion batteries (PLIBs) with new process technologies, manufacturing environments and skills would require billion-dollar investments.