Wednesday's session of the Battery Alliance was the sixth high-level meeting of the EBA. European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič, Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, Workplace and Social Rights Commissioner Nicolas Schmit and EU Economy Ministers involved in the Battery Alliance attended the talks. European Investment Bank (EIB) Vice President Thomas Östros and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Vice President Jürgen Rigterink were also present.

Strengthening the resilience of the European battery industry

Making EU countries' industries independent from imports of raw materials necessary for battery production from countries outside the EU was one of the key topics on the agenda.

Batteries are a good example of an area where demand for aluminium, cobalt, iron, lead, lithium, magnesium and nickel will increase by more than a thousand percent by 2050. This is a challenge for the entire European community on how to deal with the increase in demand for raw materials during the energy transition,

- Piotr Nowak, Minister for Economic Development and Technology, said during the EBA session. 

Diversification of sources of supply of raw materials needed for the energy transformation is the way to achieve climate neutrality. It is crucial to strengthen the exploration and exploitation of European deposits, especially as Europe has important resources of raw materials needed for batteries - nearly 260 deposits, of which about 20 are currently under development. 

It is extremely important to create the right framework for cooperation and raw material partnerships, above all with countries that have deposits. International cooperation is crucial in this case to achieve economies of scale beyond the capabilities of a single country,

- the Polish minister pointed out. 

The Minister for Economic Development and Technology underlined that Poland will strive to simplify administrative procedures related to granting concessions for activities connected with prospecting, recognition and extraction of minerals, which are included in the list of critical raw materials.

Minister Nowak also pointed out that recycling and recovery of raw materials will also contribute to achieving resilience in the battery industry and reducing the Union's dependence on materials from third countries. This will strengthen the closed loop and increase resource savings.

EBA - European Battery Alliance

The European Battery Alliance (EBA - European Battery Alliance) was launched by the European Commission together with Member States and industry representatives in 2017. 

The aim of the agreement is to build a strong cell and battery industry with the cooperation of EU countries by supporting and developing innovative and sustainable lithium-ion battery technologies. Batteries of this type are more durable than those currently available on the market, have shorter charging times, are safer and more environmentally friendly.

Innovations should concern both the extraction and processing of raw materials, the manufacture of advanced chemical materials, the design of battery cells and modules and their integration into intelligent systems. A particularly important area is the recycling and repurposing of used batteries, which should lead to a reduction in carbon emissions and waste generated in various production processes. As a result, environmentally friendly and sustainable dismantling, recycling and refining procedures should be developed.

Building a strong European cell and battery industry is enhanced by the European Commission's IPCEI baterries project. Important Projects of Common European Interests). It provides for co-financing of projects contributing to the value chain of the full life cycle of new generation batteries for vehicles and stationary energy storage systems. 

Our country, using the IPCEI mechanism, has been supporting a project dedicated to improving lithium-ion battery recycling technology since 2021. It allows recovering scarce metals of strategic importance from used batteries. The project will enable the recycling of 10,000 tonnes of waste lithium-ion batteries and catalysts per year.

EBA Academy 

During the meeting, the European Battery Academy was officially launched with the aim of improving the competencies of workers employed in the battery industry. The Academy aims to provide a pan-European education system that will reduce the costs of up-skilling and re-skilling workers.

In cooperation with local training specialists, the EBA will develop and make available curricula and training materials in this field. This is expected to increase the effectiveness and quality of training by reducing the time taken by local training providers to launch and test new programmes or improve existing ones.

Poland intends to join the European Battery Academy initiative. 

This is an opportunity to intensify the adaptation of human resources' skills to the future needs of a modern European economy,

- Minister Nowak said during the EBA meeting in Brussels.

Poland's strong position in the production of batteries for electric cars 

Poland has become one of the largest exporters of lithium-ion batteries in the world in recent years. The value of exports amounted to nearly EUR 4 billion in 2020, which accounted for 1.7 percent of the total value of Polish exports. Compared to 2019, these exports increased by almost EUR 2 billion, which was the largest annual increase in foreign sales of a single item in Polish foreign trade statistics. 

Poland has a chance to become a European centre for the production of lithium-ion batteries for electric cars and components for their production. Already today, large investment projects are being implemented in our country by such companies as: 

• Korean LG Chem - the company is expanding its battery factory in Kobierzyce, which is to be one of the largest such plants in the world; the target production capacity is 100 GWh per year, which will make it possible to meet the demand for batteries in the EU, which this year will amount to 90 GWh;
• Belgium's Umicore;
• Sweden's NorthVolt;
• the German Daimler investment - the plant in Jaworzno has already been producing engines for Mercedes for over a year; the batteries are to become another product of this brand with annual production of ca. 100,000 batteries for plug-in hybrids and fully electric cars.