Energy Storage

The key to wider adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) will be lower-cost models with a more approachable price point. The most expensive component of an EV is the battery pack. As well as increasing the energy density and reducing the cost of the battery cells, another avenue to cost reduction is through more efficient packaging of the cells.

Lithium is the lightest and smallest alkali metal in the periodic table and possesses a high electrochemical potential. These attributes make it attractive for use in batteries, as it can provide a high energy density per unit weight, with few viable substitutes. While lithium finds diverse applications in glass ceramics, lubricating greases, air treatment, and pharmaceuticals, batteries dominate its end-use segment.

On a global level, the decarbonization of heat energy methods is needed more and more as heating and cooling accounts for around 50% of energy consumption, with 30% being from industrial heating. 90% of these industrial heating processes include the use of fossil fuels, which leads to high global emissions from industrial processes alone. To meet net zero targets, things need to change.

Thursday 12 September 2024 - How Is Critical Material Recovery Unlocking a Multi-Billion Dollar Market? Introduction to critical materials and key application markets; Critical material sources and why secondary material streams are rapidly emerging; Critical material recovery technology trends and their application in secondary sources; Valuable lessons to learn from established critical platinum group metal and semiconductor recovery; IDTechEx's outlook and conclusions on emerging critical material recovery markets and key growth opportunities.

Multiple consumer electronics giants, including Apple, Samsung, and Nokia, have previously shown interest in flexible smartphones. Indeed, it naturally seems like the next step after foldable and curved smartphones have seen development and commercialization in the last decade. However, the path to fully flexible smartphones is far from simple, and the reward for successful development is ambiguous.

Sodium-ion batteries bring new opportunities for lower costs, greater sustainability, and safety into the battery market. With sodium being more widely available than lithium, concerns about energy security and supply-chain shortages can hopefully start to decrease for economies.

End-of-life equipment from automotives, electric vehicles, e-waste and decarbonized energy technologies are rapidly emerging secondary raw material sources for valuable critical materials. A new report from IDTechEx forecasts that US$110B of critical materials will be recovered annually from secondary sources by 2045, with a combined weight of over 3.3 million tonnes.

Demand for battery energy storage systems will continue to increase over the coming decade across key countries as the volume of renewable energy sources penetrating electricity grids continues to increase. Governments have continued to announce incentives and schemes to promote the growth of BESS, as well as announce and increase targets for both RES and battery and energy storage.

Major CCUS (carbon capture, utilization, and storage) players converged in Houston, Texas, in the last week of June for the 2024 iteration of the Carbon Capture Technology Expo North America. Co-located with the Hydrogen Technology Expo, the event boasted over 8000 attendees and 400 exhibitors - including IDTechEx.

As the penetration of variable renewable energy increases in key countries, so will the need to manage the increasing uncertainty and variability in electricity supply.