Collaboration between the European Battery Alliance and U.S Li-Bridge Alliance receives support from the EU Commission and U.S. Department of Energy

Yesterday, the Commission and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced support for a collaboration between the European Battery Alliance and the U.S. Li-Bridge alliance to accelerate development of robust supply chains for lithium-ion and next generation batteries, including the critical raw materials segments.

Bolstering the clean energy economy and strengthening the battery value chain is a top priority for the European Union and the United States. This is in step with their commitment to address the climate crisis and accelerate the transition to clean energy, through renewables, energy efficiency and necessary technologies like batteries.

With each passing year, the growing urgency of the climate crisis demands swifter action, smarter solutions, and more comprehensive collaboration. The European Battery Alliance and U.S. Li-Bridge Alliance are collectively assuring the resilience of battery supply chains by:

• developing sustainable industry capacity that can satisfy a growing demand for batteries in transportation and energy systems,
• researching next generation, high-performing and sustainable battery technologies,
• ensuring sustainable and ethical sourcing of critical raw materials,
• accelerating battery recycling and reuse, including recovering critical raw materials,
• investing in the battery workforce,
• prioritising the environmental justice when supporting the broader transition to a clean energy economy.

In the months ahead, EIT InnoEnergy – that drives the EBA250 initiative – and Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) will lead efforts between the two alliances to build bridges across the battery ecosystems and conduct forums to carry out specific collaborative efforts to ensure resilient battery value chains.

The EBA250 team is honored to see that our efforts to create a competitive and sustainable battery industry in Europe has been recognised by the US administration as a model to follow. Indeed, since the launch of the European Battery Alliance in 2017, we have brought together a project-driven community of more than 700 public and private actors, from mining to recycling, with the common objective to build a strong and competitive European battery industry.

In the margins of this announcement, an official visit takes place this week in the US to meet with several American actors in the field. Besides the Vice-President of the European Commission for Interinstitutional Relations Maros Šefčovič, the delegation will comprise of Dagmara Koska (EU Delegation to the USA), Benoit Lemaignan (CEO at Verkor), Diego Pavia (CEO at EIT InnoEnergy), Ilka von Dalwigk (Policy Manager at EIT InnoEnergy and driving force behind the EBA250 initiative), and Mark Vasu (US Operations Manager at EIT InnoEnergy).

The delegation will notably visit the Lawrence Berkeley National Labs (LNBL), the California Energy Commission, Cuberg (fully-owned subsidiary of Northvolt), QuantumScape, and Stanford University. As part of the programme, EIT InnoEnergy will facilitate a CEO Roundtable on Thursday 17 March on the opportunity for exchange with entrepreneurs developing solutions in batteries and e-mobility and a discussion related to EU-US opportunities for collaboration.

Read the official announcement on the European Commission website.