Precise Energy: A Missing View On Batteries

Achievable energy densities dominate important future research activities on battery technology. This book deduces in detail the future options for energy density enhancement of rechargeable battery cells and complete batteries. It connects rechargeability to energy density limits and gives a detailed argumentation on how and when battery energy densities will achieve their inherent limits. This work provides key insights for the future market for modern batteries and points readers towards future battery cell designs — highlighting their limitations and potential advancements, and discusses which battery cell technologies will survive and dominate. It identifies the most promising candidates for achieving higher energy densities and explores the trade-offs between energy density, power density, lifetime, safety, and costs. It also investigates the influence of raw materials on energy densities and provides an overview of progress made in battery energy densities. Lastly, it expands the discussion to alternative energy storage systems, revealing a compelling vision for the future of energy storage. Precise Energy is a valuable resource for researchers and students of related fields, engineers and other professionals with corresponding background, and decision and policymakers interested in the evolving landscape of energy storage and its profound impact on our future.

Kai Peter Birke is a physicist, materials scientist and a full Professor at the University of Stuttgart, Germany, covering the field of Electrical Energy Storage Systems, including new energy storage cell materials and technologies, advanced Li-Ion batteries and Power-to-X. He obtained his PhD in Materials Science (ion conducting ceramics) from the University of Kiel, Germany, in 1998. In 1999, he joined the Fraunhofer-Institute for Silicon Technology, Itzehoe, Germany, to work on the development of proprietary Li-Ion laminated hybrid-solid cells with novel functional ceramic separators. He also co-founded two spin-offs to put this technology into production. After being involved in the development and production of pouch type laminated Li-Ion cells (PoLiFlex) in leading positions at VARTA AG for five years (2000–2005), Prof. Birke joined Continental AG, Business Unit Hybrid Electric Vehicle, in Berlin in 2005, as a Senior Expert and Project Leader in Energy-Storage systems. He subsequently became Senior Technical Expert in Battery Technology and Team Leader in Cell Technology, and in 2010 he was appointed Head of Battery Modules and Electromechanics. In 2013, he joined the Joint Venture (JV) SK-Continental E-motion as Head of Advanced Development. He was one of the most relevant pioneers for this JV. In 2015 Prof. Birke became a full professor at the Unviersity of Stuttgart, Institute for Photovoltaics (IPV), as head of Electrical Energy Storage Systems. Additionally, since he also leads the Center for Digitalized Battery Cell Manufacturing at Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (Fraunhofer IPA), with an extended focus on battery cell production and digitalization.

Sabri Baazouzi specializes in mechanical and manufacturing engineering. He received his master's degree from the University of Stuttgart, Germany. In 2020, he started working as a researcher at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (Fraunhofer IPA) at the Center for Digitalized Battery Cell Manufacturing. Since then, he developed and coordinated several research projects together with partners from industry and science. His research focuses on the production of battery cells and circular economy strategies for battery systems. Mr Baazouzi was the project manager for the DeMoBat project, focusing on industrial automated disassembly solutions for battery systems. He also co-developed a fully automated and digitalized process chain to enable the format- and design flexible manufacturing of jelly rolls for cylindrical battery cells, with an industry partner.

Julian Joël Grimm is an industrial engineer with a specialization in renewable energies and energy efficiency and manufacturing engineering. Currently, he is working as a group manager for battery technologies and project leader at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (Fraunhofer IPA) in Stuttgart, Germany. He is also deputy head of the Center for Digitalized Battery Cell Manufacturing. The main topics of the working group are manufacturing technologies for battery cells and developing digital adding-value services for battery cell manufacturing, future battery materials and designs and their implications on manufacturing technologies as well as developing a circular economy for batteries with end-of-life strategies and automated battery disassembly and recycling. At the Center for Digitalized Battery Cell Manufacturing, a pilot line for producing design and format flexible cylindrical cells has been implemented and is continuously developed. Between 2017 and 2019, he worked as a consultant for manufacturing engineering and logistics. Prior to this, he studied Industrial Engineering and finished his Master's degree (MSc) at the University of Kassel (Universität Kassel), Germany.

Yucheng Luo has been working as a Research Associate specializing in battery modeling algorithms and digitalized battery production at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA in Stuttgart, Germany, since 2023. Prior to this, he was employed by BatterieIngenieure GmbH from 2021 to 2023, where he worked in a team focused on battery testing, modeling, and diagnostics. Before that, he completed his Master of Science (MSc) in Sustainable Energy Supply at RWTH Aachen University in Germany.

Daniel Reichert is part of the Center for Digitalized Battery Cell Manufacturing at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA in Stuttgart, Germany. He is actively engaged in various aspects of battery cell production research, focusing on the upscaling and industrialization of sodium-ion battery technology. Previously, Daniel Reichert studied Business Chemistry at the University of Ulm, Germany.