What Drives the Future of Battery Technologies? (Part 2)

Part 1 of this series reviews why battery chemistries can only take you so far and how focusing on the battery value chain is key to long-term success. We also explore battery value chain challenges that business leaders must navigate to ensure the success of their electrification and sustainability initiatives.

So, what makes a robust battery value chain and how do you future-proof yours? Let’s find out.

A resilient, sustainable, and circular battery value chain

Here are some key pointers to construct your battery value chain to pave the way for success in the next decade.

Achieve supply chain resilience

Build resiliency into your battery value chain and boost social value by diversifying and localizing your raw materials and component sources. Incorporate recycled raw materials primarily found in one location to reduce dependency and protect your operations from geopolitical instability or natural disasters.

Foster relationships and partnerships with suppliers and ensure close communications to help anticipate potential disruptions and facilitate rapid response measures. Also, maintain sufficient inventory levels of critical components and materials to buffer against short-term disruptions while balancing inventory costs with flexibility.

Map your entire supply chain to achieve full transparency, which enables you to track and trace materials and components for prompt response to disruptions. Invest in research and development of new technology to enhance efficiency and resilience. For instance, the Tanktwo Battery Operating System (TBOS) allows you to use cells of different chemistries without changing the hardware.

Also, identify vulnerabilities, develop mitigation strategies, and review them regularly to stay current with supply chain changes. Conduct scenario planning and risk assessment to inform contingency plans and response strategies.

Focus on sustainability

The battery industry must decarbonize its operations by reducing material and manufacturing emissions to reach decarbonization goals. Organizations should promote transparency and traceability in supply chains to ensure ethical sourcing practices like fair labor conditions and minimal environmental degradation.

Purchase materials like aluminum, steel, and plastic from low-emission sources to lower pack-level emissions. Choose suppliers who adopt green manufacturing processes and resource-efficient production methods to minimize waste and pollution. Also, buy from vendors who use renewable energy sources to power their manufacturing facilities.

Design your products and battery solutions for longevity, durability, and recyclability to extend their lifespan and minimize waste generation. Promote energy-efficient use of batteries through proper maintenance, charging practices, and end-user education. Choose battery solutions that facilitate easy disassembly and material recovery to support responsible disposal.

Assess your suppliers’ impacts on freshwater change, stratospheric ozone depletion, atmospheric aerosol loading, ocean acidification, biogeochemical flows, novel entities, land-system change, biosphere integrity, and climate change. Also, consider how they address social and governance challenges to achieve true sustainability. 

Establish a circular value chain

Organizations may promote sustainability by creating a battery value chain that maximizes the use of repaired, reused, and recycled materials. For example, build circularity into battery solutions to enhance durability, repairability, upgradability, and recyclability. Packs should be modular and easily disassembled to facilitate component reuse and recycling.

Implement a closed-loop material management system and support it with collection, sorting, and recycling infrastructure to promote the recovery and reuse of valuable materials from end-of-life batteries. Execute a take-back and recycling programs to ensure responsible disposal of battery materials.

Also, explore battery leasing/sharing or energy-as-a-service (EaaS) models to optimize resource efficiency and asset utilization. Leverage big data and battery analytics capabilities to understand usage patterns, identify efficiencies, and uncover opportunities to eliminate market inefficiency and increase transparency.

Establishing a circular battery value chain requires collaboration among manufacturers, recyclers, policymakers, consumers, NGOs, and more. Foster partnership and drive collective action towards establishing a circular battery value chain. Also, educate consumers about these initiatives' importance to generate demand for sustainable products.

Facilitate a resilient, sustainable, and circular battery value chain with software-defined batteries

An SDB solution built on TBOS can mix and match cells of any chemistries and age without requiring changes to the hardware — allowing product builders and operators to adapt to supply chain fluctuations on a dime with minimal (if any) disruption. 

You can also incorporate new battery chemistries at the drop of a hat without overhauling your equipment or vehicle fleets, eliminating the pressure of identifying battery chemistry that can withstand the many unknowns in the battery supply chain and worrying about new ones that may render your current design obsolete.

TBOS also promotes modularity and ultimate flexibility. You can replace one faulty cell instead of throwing out the entire pack to minimize wastage and increase longevity by many folds.

Battery AI and analytics will be critical for optimizing resource usage on a minute-to-minute basis. Meanwhile, granular tracking and battery state of health (SoH) metrics can facilitate second-life applications to minimize wastage and end-of-life recycling practices to reduce unsafe material disposal.

Navigating the nuances of the complex battery value chain

Identifying the best battery solution and implementing all the checks and balances to optimize value while improving resiliency and sustainability is no easy feat. There are no black-and-white answers — business leaders must weigh various options, trade-offs, and permutations to make informed decisions that will impact their operations for years. 

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