Published: 15 Mar 2021, 10:50 By: Maroš Šefčovič (left), has long championed the European battery sector. Image: Maroš Šefčovič via LinkedIn. Europe is on course to become the world’s second-largest lithium-ion battery cell producing region by 2025, although some key challenges need to be addressed, a European Commission vice-president has said. Following a high-level ministerial meeting of the European Battery Alliance (EBA) — the continent’s multinational drive to support a massive domestic production base and supply chain — Maroš Šefčovič, the EC’s vice president for inter institutional relations and foresight, said that almost 70 industrial projects are being supported by the Alliance, expected to create as many as four million jobs by 2025.