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Lasting Power The Future of Batteries
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00:02Hello everyone, welcome back, for those of you who have been here before, and welcome to all of you who
00:08are new.
00:09We are now going to talk about the lasting power and the future of batteries.
00:13As you may know, batteries are absolutely essential for powering our transition to a low-carbon economy.
00:20But how can we make them more efficient, durable, and sustainable?
00:24This is what we are going to see with Julia Seeger and her host.
00:28Please welcome Julia and her host.
00:54Hello everyone, welcome.
00:57We are going to talk about lasting power.
01:00In today's rapidly evolving world, the batteries have become an indispensable component of our lives, powering everything from our smartphones
01:09and electric vehicles, but also the renewable energy systems.
01:13Now, as we strive for a more sustainable and electrified future, the advancements in battery technology hold the key to
01:20unlocking new possibilities and addressing critical issues.
01:23Now, to talk about the latest developments, opportunities, and also the potential breakthroughs that I was talking about that will
01:30shape the future of batteries, I'm here with Elisa Stekalia, the principal at Exange.
01:37Before we dive into this very fascinating conversation, dynamic topic indeed, can you maybe tell us a little bit more
01:43about what you do exactly at Exange?
01:45Sure.
01:47Hello, everybody.
01:48Thank you for having me today.
01:51It's a great honor to be here among you.
01:54So, yeah, I'm a venture capital investor at Exange.
01:59Exange is a venture capital, a leading venture capital fund based in Paris and in Berlin.
02:05In Berlin, we focus on early stage deals, so pre-seed C, then series A, mainly in France, Germany, Belgium,
02:15and Switzerland.
02:16We have a few unicorns in portfolio.
02:20You may know Ledger, Lydia, Believe, Odoo, Raisin, and many other companies for which we are really proud of.
02:31So, thank you for having me.
02:33So, before we pursue this conversation, you may know this by now, but we're taking questions throughout the panel, so
02:39please don't hesitate.
02:40If you're hearing something on stage and you want to pitch in, ask your questions, please don't hesitate.
02:45So, let's perhaps start and talk about the current limitations, the bottlenecks of traditional lithium-ion batteries,
02:52and how perhaps it's hindering today the widespread adoption of batteries.
03:00Demand is going to soar in the next couple of years.
03:06It's going to reach five, more or less five terawatt hours of demand.
03:12And this is huge, right?
03:17Analysts expect that the demand is going to be multiplied by seven by 2030.
03:25And this brings a lot of positive things, so economic growth, employment, and so on, but it also brings along
03:35a lot of challenges as well.
03:38One of those, for example, it will be about raw materials and equipment.
03:47We expect a huge shortage of raw materials, for example.
03:53And especially if we talk about lithium, analysts expect that in 2013 the supply of lithium will only cover 50
04:05% of the total demand.
04:06So, there will be a challenge related to that, also to other materials, for example, nickel and cobalt.
04:15We expect minor shortage, and it's something we'll have to tackle with.
04:22On another dimension, another challenge that will be raised, will be related to the environmental impact of the world value
04:33chain.
04:33So, from extraction, to refinery, to production of batteries, and to circular economy related to that.
04:43And it's something that we'll have to minimize and protect the environment and society for bear.
04:51Last but not least, when we talk about batteries, the state-of-the-art today still doesn't allow to unlock
05:02new use cases.
05:04I'm thinking about commercial aviation, for example.
05:11To do that, we need energy density to pass a certain threshold.
05:20Some say that a critical threshold of 500 watt-hours per kilogram will be necessary to unlock electric aviation.
05:33The biggest battery producer manufacturers is CATL.
05:41It's a Chinese company, and he's producing roughly 35% of the global batteries production.
05:50And it has recently announced that he's ready to push into production at scale for those kind of batteries, high
06:01-density batteries.
06:02And maybe that will unlock electric flights in the next couple of years.
06:08Now, in your opinion, what are the emerging battery chemistries, materials, but also designs that we're seeing emerging today?
06:16I mean, this is from a personal perspective, but there's so much happening right now in that domain.
06:22What do you see emerging as a promising tendency?
06:28So today, the widely adopted chemistry is NM&C, right?
06:35So it's nickel, magnesium, cobalt-based lithium batteries.
06:39It is what you find in electric vehicles today.
06:46And the most interesting advantage of these batteries is that they have a high energy density, right?
06:57There is also other type of chemistry that are developing, like LFP, for example, which is lithium-iron-phosphate-based
07:07battery.
07:08It's cheaper, it's safer, and it also lasts for many more charging cycles.
07:19So it probably can be suited for electric vehicles as well, for a type of probably bigger vehicles,
07:28and that need to be charged more frequently.
07:31So it can be suited for commercial vehicles, for example.
07:36So it depends.
07:37There are different types of chemistry that can be suited for different use cases.
07:42And under an investor perspective, I've been seeing in the last 12, 18 months,
07:49a lot of companies working on alternative chemistry as well.
07:54For example, I'm thinking about solid-state batteries, and I'm thinking about Basque Vault, for example, in Spain.
08:03Yeah.
08:04We have 3D batteries as well.
08:07So something is moving.
08:09I've seen a company in Italy called Synergy Flow, for example, that in working with sulfur-rich byproducts from the
08:19industry to use them to build a new kind of batteries.
08:23It's difficult today to say if there will be another chemistry that will disrupt the market across all the use
08:32cases, but things are moving on.
08:34There's definitely a lot of research, at least, ongoing research.
08:37Yeah, a lot of technology quests going on, and I think that technology and chemistry diversification is also the key
08:46to lower the pressure on the supply of raw materials.
08:51Now, you were talking about the use cases, and I want to talk about the applications here, because we're hearing
08:57more and more that batteries are, you know, the solution, the one-fits-all.
09:03Is it really the case, or is it more that there are specific applications for which it's more suitable than
09:10others?
09:11And what about, and maybe are we about to unlock new use cases, for instance?
09:17We know about electric vehicles, for instance, but are there other new use cases emerging?
09:23This is a good, very great question, because actually, if we move our attention away from mobility and we think
09:31about grid, for example, today the most used way to store energy for the grid is hydropump storage.
09:41So it's basically to pump water from a lower elevated reservoir to a higher reservoir, and then to release the
09:53water and let it pass through a turbine connected to a generator to produce energy when the demand peaks on
10:02the grid.
10:02So this is roughly 90% of the grid storage today.
10:08You said it's hydropump. You said it was hydropump? Is that the term?
10:13Hydropump, yeah. Hydropump.
10:15We are seeing also battery storage for grid developing in Australia, a little bit in Europe as well, and it
10:25consists in bundling large PV plants with batteries to store energy.
10:33But, for example, in the industrial world, we have also other types of storage that are not chemical, and thinking
10:45about, for example, thermal storage.
10:48The fact of using all the thermal energy that is released from an industrial process, and you store it and
10:59release it again when the company needs it.
11:02And I'm thinking about, for example, Kraft Block in Germany. It's a startup that is working on this use case
11:11as well.
11:12Green Y, for example, that is doing the same thing with compressed air generated by industrial process.
11:20And, yeah, there are startups that are working on that, and I can recall the last example, for example, Energy
11:30Vault, which is a US-based company that is storing energy thanks to gravity.
11:36So, actually, when the supply of energy is abundant on the grid, they use it to move up bricks, and
11:47then to release it using gravity to generate energy and re-inject it into the grid.
11:52So, a lot of stuff is going on now.
11:55The demand for electric vehicles is growing rapidly, and the supply is definitely not there yet.
12:01How do you solve this problem going forward, and, for instance, how do you address the lack of raw materials
12:06that you just mentioned?
12:08Yeah, I mean, it's a tricky question, right? Because nature cannot do everything alone.
12:14I think that one way to help with the raw material storage is to build a circular economy in this
12:24space.
12:25And I'm thinking about recycling. This is super important.
12:30I've been knowing about two companies in Germany, for example, that are addressing this problem that are 2-0 and
12:40Cylib, working on, like, re-extracting raw materials from used batteries to actually valorize them and re-inject it again
12:52into the value chain.
12:54I'm thinking also about reuse. There is a company based in California named BTU that actually takes used batteries for
13:04electric vehicles, reassembles it into a big one, and to use it for grid storage, for example.
13:12And last but not least, refurbishment is also possible in this industry.
13:17I'm thinking about Guache in France, a French-based company that is taking, like, used batteries cells, selecting it to
13:26see which ones are still charged, reassembling the charge cells into a new pack, and to delivering it to vehicles
13:35again.
13:36Once again, if you have any questions for Elisa, please do send them in through Slido.
13:42So, from what I understand, if we want to expand the life cycle of batteries, we have two choices, recycling,
13:50of course, and also regionalization.
13:53Oh, so sorry?
13:56Regionalization.
13:57Regionalization.
13:58Yeah, it's very important to lower, actually, the impact, the environmental impact of batteries.
14:08Things are happening in Europe.
14:11For example, there are native European companies like Northvolt, Verk, or ACC that are building gigafactories in Europe right now,
14:24in France, in Germany, and in the north of Europe.
14:27So, it is happening, and I think it's super important also to, under a, like, geopolitical point of view to,
14:37I think, I mean, batteries are going to become a strategic asset for governments, and we have to have a
14:45production unit here next to us in Europe.
14:49So, from an investor's point of view now, what are some of the verticals that you're seeing emerging and that
14:56you're currently looking at?
14:59Yeah, a lot of stuff, actually.
15:02What I can say is that there are mainly three things that has worked since today.
15:10It is easy charging stations.
15:13So, I can recall, for example, Electra.
15:16It is a VC, French-backed company.
15:18You have a bit, the same business model in UK with BeEve.
15:25So, this is going well, because it's a mature technology, and it's a time to market it, which is acceptable
15:32for a VC standpoint.
15:36We have, we named it, so we have manufacturing of batteries, Northvolt, Verk, or Italvolt, Basquevolt, that are starting to
15:47be financed by big funds here in Europe.
15:52And last, it's more like a software approach to that.
15:57So, investors are really interesting to all the analytics monitoring software to have data about the battery performance and about
16:08the life cycle of the batteries as well.
16:11And me, for my personal view on that, is that, in my opinion, the next big thing will happen in
16:18recycling of batteries.
16:20And what do you look for in companies when, you know, when you decide to accelerate them? What are the
16:27criteria?
16:29For me, it's mainly related to, is there a market? Is there a use case that is deep enough to
16:39build a really big, strong company in that? And is this market growing?
16:43And then you have everything that is related to the team, to the funding team. Is that a team that
16:51has experience in this field? Is that a team that can deliver, can execute fast, and build that technology?
16:59Thank you very much.
17:00Elisa Sticalia, thank you so much for taking the time to speak to us today.
17:04Once again, you're a principal at X-Ainge, and thank you for sharing your view on how you see the
17:10future of batteries.
17:11Thank you all.
17:13Thank you.
17:14Thank you.
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