Electric vehicle batteries have become the new passion

A year ago, Claus Bjerring announced that his career in the automotive industry needed to go up on the lift for a major overhaul during the winter. By spring, this had already resulted in a number of new initiatives, brought together under the consultancy CBAA and the producer responsibility organisation KABoB – Collective Responsibility Scheme. Claus now also admits that he has fallen head over heels for electric vehicle batteries.

It was hardly obvious that the time for reflection during last autumn and winter would result in a great passion for electric vehicle batteries, especially when looking back at Claus Bjerring's CV in the automotive industry. With nearly 30 years of experience in the sector, it would have seemed more natural for strategy, management and sales to be the areas in which he would support the industry going forward.

To some extent, that is also what has happened through the board positions and initiatives Claus is involved in, but a brand-new interview with him reveals that his heart now beats most strongly for electric vehicle batteries:

"It probably surprises me too, because I have always been something of a petrolhead and it took me a long time to see the light when it came to electric cars.

I also do not think the industry is the same anymore now that electric cars have become so prominent. Dynamic handling and the smooth running of a six-cylinder engine belong to the past, while exciting things such as chip tuning, lowered suspension and a roar under acceleration have simply become the push of a button—and are often fake anyway."

But what is it about those batteries that have captured your heart?

"Last autumn, I suddenly had time to immerse myself in the subject and read a great deal of fascinating material about the future of the automotive industry. That led me into the world of electric vehicle batteries and where it is heading.

It quickly—or finally—dawned on me that we will all end up driving electric cars, because in the long term nothing will be able to compete with them. I also realised that an extraordinary period of battery development lies ahead of us, and I found that incredibly exciting."

So now you know everything about cathodes and anodes and how the active materials interact inside the battery?

"Ha ha… no, that is not what interests me about batteries, and I have no plans to retrain as a chemical engineer.

What is exciting is the development of the various battery technologies and the impact they will have on the automotive market — in sales, use and reuse.

Take LFP batteries, for example. Until just a few years ago, they were unknown as electric vehicle batteries.

Developments in LFP batteries have brought their energy density to a level where it makes sense to transport them on wheels — which is, of course, the uncompromising premise of an electric car. LFP batteries have several obvious advantages, such as smaller temperature fluctuations during charging and discharging. This allows battery manufacturers to skip modules and install the cells directly in the battery pack. That creates room for more kWh in the same area and thereby compensates for the slightly lower energy density. An LFP battery can also tolerate being fully charged every time, is less flammable and is expected to withstand up to three times as many charging cycles as the NMC batteries that are most common today.

And then there is the price of the LFP battery. Because it uses iron phosphate instead of all the expensive metals such as nickel, manganese and especially cobalt, it will soon be possible to produce it at half the cost of an NMC battery."

That opens the door to much cheaper electric cars in the future…?

"Yes, and that was the revelation I had too, but we should probably not expect the entire saving on the battery to translate into lower customer prices. Car manufacturers need to increase the profitability of their electric cars and recoup their major investments, so the outcome will probably be somewhere in between.

Given the major differences between batteries, does this mean that customers and industry need to pay more attention to the type of battery used in each car?

"It will definitely become a key focus in the years ahead, as will independent battery diagnostics that establish the battery's actual state of health (SoH), rather than state whether it meets the requirements of the factory warranty, which is what a manufacturer's test typically does.

An NMC battery will typically last 1,000–2,000 charging cycles, so once a car has passed 200,000 kilometers, the battery may quickly be approaching the end of its service life if it has not been charged and treated properly along the way. I believe customers and dealers will want to know the battery's SoH and its expected development curve well before that point.

If, as you say, an LFP battery can withstand many more of these charging cycles, what does that mean for such batteries?

"The LFP battery is best compared with the diesel engine of the fossil-fuel era. It is virtually impossible to wear out, so we are very likely to see the car itself become ready for scrapping while the battery has barely moved beyond its teenage years.

This means that a market for used electric vehicle batteries will have to emerge—either for direct reuse in cars or in another type of installation, such as an energy storage system (ESS). Otherwise, these fully functional batteries will end up as virtually worthless scrap far too early in their lives."

Can one therefore say that the more expensive a battery is when new, the more value there is in recycling it and using the materials to make new batteries, whereas for a cheaper battery, recycling is the costly option and reuse to extend its service life is far more relevant?

"Yes, that is exactly right, and here we are speaking solely about the economics for those who bear producer responsibility for the batteries in question.

From an environmental perspective, the green transition to electric cars fades into a guilty conscience if we fail to find reuse applications for these long-lived LFP batteries. The battery industry rather originally calls this a second life for batteries, and it is extremely exciting to follow the initiatives under way in this field—one of the most advanced of which is thoroughly Danish.

The automotive industry talks a great deal about what the future holds for workshops once electric cars have taken over the vehicle fleet. What is your view?

"The rise of electric cars will undoubtedly hurt workshop earnings, but I also see a number of opportunities—and, by the way, many others beyond batteries.

As battery technology becomes cheaper, workshops will have opportunities to sell new battery packs to customers who want to restore their car's range. These could also be refurbished packs taken from an end-of-life vehicle, with the battery being refurbished and certified beforehand.

Battery diagnostics and health certificates could also become a larger business area and could be sold together with an extended warranty once the factory warranty has expired.

There are also opportunities for collision repair areas, since many electric cars are declared totally damaged, even though the battery pack has suffered no actual damage. As a result, many almost-new battery modules are sent for scrap despite being in perfect working condition. Workshops could take these in and certify them for reuse. However, the rules governing total-damaged vehicles are not straightforward, so they would first need to be revised.

Finally, what do you think will be the next development we see in electric vehicle batteries?

"For many years, the industry has said that solid-state batteries will mark the definitive breakthrough for electric cars.

Solid-state batteries will certainly arrive, and a range of 1,250 km on a single charge is realistic, but not in ordinary family cars. Solid-state technology will remain so expensive that it will be reserved for luxury brands and high-end cars. In fact, it may become these brands' ticket to the electric transition, as solid-state technology will genuinely differentiate battery specification, compared with far cheaper competitors.

The breakthrough in the mainstream market is happening now with LFP batteries, but another technology is also on the horizon—one that is even cheaper to manufacture and could deliver the breakthrough for all-electric microcars and city cars.

It is incredibly exciting, as you can probably tell, even if the parameters are different from those of the good old fossil-fuel days."

Yes, it certainly sounds that way. So are you going to become some kind of battery expert?

"Yes, that seems the obvious direction—someone recently asked whether my new name is Battery Bjerring, but that will not be the case.

I have not left the automotive industry behind; it is still a major part of my DNA. But the combination of cars, batteries and reuse opportunities brings together three worlds that I have made it my mission to connect more closely and to help create new ecosystems around."