Batteries - Thematic Research

Batteries - Thematic Research

Summary

Batteries are the twenty-first century’s oil barrels. Over the past decade, the battery industry has progressed sufficiently to enable portable consumer electronics, the mobile internet, the first electric cars, and the initial adoption of intermittent renewable power storage and generation. Given the accelerating and expanding role stored energy will play in tackling global warming, it will become one of the world’s most significant industries over the next 10 years.

There will likely be a severe but temporary global battery shortage by 2025 due to a sudden increase in demand for electric vehicles (EVs) and a shortage of mined and refined battery metals, akin to the current chip shortage. However, the industry is investing heavily to prevent this from becoming a sustained threat by reducing its use of scarce materials, developing new materials and battery technologies, and, most important of all, developing a scaled-up global battery recycling industry. Meanwhile, China’s control of the entire global supply chain, from mines and refiners to component markers and cell producers, is a mounting geopolitical issue. The US and Europe are taking significant steps to reduce the dependence on China within their batteries supply chain by the end of the decade.

Scope

• This report provides an overview of the batteries theme.
• It identifies the key trends impacting growth of the theme over the next 12 to 24 months, split into three categories: technology trends, macroeconomic trends, and regulatory trends.
• It includes analysis of multiple data sets, including patents and M&A trends, alongside a timeline highlighting milestones in the development of the batteries.
• The detailed value chain discusses the core segments, including raw materials, smelting and refining, component makers, battery technologies, end markets, and end of life.

• Battery recycling is as much about geopolitics as it is about environmental sustainability.
• The circular battery economy will be critical to the energy transition, and it is vital for nations (and companies) to develop domestic recycling.
• This report provides an invaluable overview of the batteries, its challenges, and its potential impacts.