All language subtitles for From-smartphones-to-e-cars-How-important-is-the-lithium-ion-battery-DW-Documentary-en

foreign

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technology a technology that has become

an integral part of our Lives Compact

and Powerful rechargeable batteries rely

on it

as do energy storage systems

the digital Revolution

electromobility and even the transition

to Green energy would be Unthinkable

without it but the technology has its

disadvantages Lithium-ion batteries

still rely on rare earth metals and

other natural resources

many of the natural resources are being

depleted and some are even scarce and

the recycling of millions of batteries

remains a challenge

lithium-ion technology has played an

especially important role in one sector

intro Logistics

control Logistics is the flow of goods

and materials within a company although

the industry relied on lead acid

batteries for decades it is now swiftly

transitioning to lithium ion

immobility is revolutionizing Warehouse

operations and could pave the way for

the technology in other Industries

hundreds of thousands of intro Logistics

vehicles are already equipped with

lithium-ion technology

the first series produced Vehicles went

online in the early 2010s the intra

Logistics industry is booming and so is

the demand for Lithium-ion batteries

the challenges that the automotive and

other Industries will soon face are

already a reality for intra Logistics

lessons can we learn from intro

Logistics about developing the

technology sustainably sourcing the

necessary resources and above all

reducing their use

in warehouses all over the world the

future of e-mobility and the transition

to clean energy are already happening

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January 2020

an aging prototype of a staple of the

logistics industry arrives without

Fanfare at Young heinrich's corporate

headquarters in Germany

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this is special because it's the first

time lithium ion technology has been

researched and used in a concept

forklift

a vision became a reality

this futuristic looking forklift was a

quiet milestone in the world of

immobility when it was unveiled in 2008.

it was about the same time the first

Tesla entered serial production

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when it comes to technological

innovation we always have to look 10 to

15 years into the future in the early

2000s we started to think about how we

might use lithium-ion technology which

was still very new at the time in

forklifts

Warehouse Vehicles became Pioneers in

the lithium-ion technology in intra

Logistics but now the once Innovative

concept is embarking on its final

Journey

the Prototype didn't make much of a

splash

at the time lithium-ion technology had

one major drawback compared to

conventional battery systems it was very

expensive

we started developing the technology in

2007 we had a commission design a

concept vehicle a prototype it wasn't

intended for serial production only a

technology freak would have bought that

concept vehicle it was unaffordable

um

German electrochemist Jurgen bazenod

played a key role during the early days

of lithium-ion technology

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beginning in the 1970s he and his team

started researching lithium-ion

technology at universities in Munich and

Munster their work created the

foundations for the rise of smartphones

and electric vehicles as well as a host

of other devices so Central to Modern

Life

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researchers at The helmhotz Institute in

Ulm Germany are working on the next

generation of electrochemical batteries

see them and solid-state batteries May

soon join their lithium-ion colleagues

but researchers still face many

challenges including squeezing more out

of the upstarts

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the biggest challenge we face is

maintaining or even improving the

performance of the energy storage

material by replacing those materials

with more sustainable alternatives

for example Cobalt Cobalt enhances the

overall function of the batteries but

finding a good replacement isn't easy

the electrochemists work in protective

gear in climate controlled Labs testing

and revisiting potential energy storage

materials

they're hoping to find something that

can withstand thousands of charging

cycles and that is sustainable

we analyze test and retest to determine

whether the material has what we need

and plenty of mistakes can happen

each cell they check costs time money

and patience and most cells aren't what

they're looking for what the project is

still worthwhile

you can see this cell won't work

unfortunately

research on batteries is proceeding at a

fast and furious Pace propelled by the

rise of immobility the industry is

closely watching the research

in this competitive industry any

promising material could be worth

billions

but the lithium ion battery is already

facing stiff competition and immobility

hydrogen many experts are betting on

hydrogen as the key to sustainable power

for many uses but it offers just few

opportunities for intra-logistics

the big challenge is where to get the

hydrogen only a handful of customers

today have access to their own hydrogen

Supply or Filling Station hydrogen

filling stations are very very expensive

as is transporting hydrogen hydrogen

fuel cells do exist including ones for

forklifts and they work but complexity

and cost are a major challenge

electric Drive systems have been a

fixture in the intra Logistics sector

for decades hydrogen will have a tough

time gaining a foothold in large part

due to questions of costs and

sustainability

producing hydrogen from electricity is

energy intensive

some of the electricity that goes into

the production is lost from the outset

and converting the hydrogen in the fuel

cell into electricity to operate a

vehicle is also an energy intensive

process

in the end a hydrogen cell is far less

efficient than if I take the electricity

that's generated and store it in a

Lithium-Ion battery

a hydrogen fueled forklift would consume

two to three times more power than one

fueled by a Lithium-Ion battery so it's

not viable yet

we think this technology will continue

to exist but only a few customers will

care

a decade ago only a few people realized

that lithium-ion technology could

replace the standard lead acid

rechargeable batteries used in forklifts

the first lithium-ion-powered

mass-market forklift was introduced in

2011 and it was made by Jung Heinrich in

Hamburg Germany when it was launched in

early 2011 the ege 112i was the first

forklift with lithium-ion technology in

series production it was a milestone in

what was an emerging field

even though the eje wasn't a major

commercial success it helped spur a

revolution in the industry

we're still learning from it now what a

battery looks like but how it

communicates how to estimate service

lives and how to test a battery before

Market entry we're ahead of many

competitors

although Lithium-ion batteries were

maintenance free had twice the storage

capacity and recharged up to five times

faster than conventional rechargeables

the eje was still too expensive to be

competitive

the lithium ion battery was

revolutionary mainly because it offered

a dramatic Improvement in storage

capacity and output voltage

scientists continue to improve

Lithium-ion batteries as they passed

their 10th birthday

still in Industry Mainstay and some are

convinced they could help Propel the

transition to Green energy

is

lithium ion batteries are still a

flagship technology and there's still a

lot of potential for improvement I think

storage capacity could still be doubled

but we also have to consider

sustainability and the fact that in 10

years we might need 10 times as many

batteries

although the supply of lithium is large

enough they could still be shortages

from Supply and delivery bottlenecks

lithium is currently mined in only a few

regions of the world in Chile massive

quantities of water are used to extract

lithium from arid Salt Flats

in Australia lithium is mined in open

pits

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Europe and Germany have played little

role in lithium extraction

but that might soon change

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project at the causeway Institute of

Technology is turning heads in the

industry

a team of scientists are researching a

technology that might bring sustainable

lithium mining to Germany the key is

water

we've been looking at how we can use the

geothermal Waters of the upper Rhine

trench and have developed a technology

in the lab for extracting lithium by

filtering lithium carbonate out of the

thermal water

the competition over scarce resources

extracting lithium from thermal water

could be a game changer for Europe and

Germany

the valuable element can already be

filtered out in the lab but scaling it

up for use in geothermal power plants is

a challenge

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one of the big challenges is the high

flow rates in these power plants you see

flow rates of about 30 to 80 liters per

second which is what makes lithium

extraction viable

um and you have high pressures of 20 to

30 bar and water temperatures of 60

degrees Celsius on average

those are the main challenges

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rare and highly sought after resource

already in use by existing power plants

obtaining lithium from water could

revolutionize the sustainability of

rechargeable batteries

if the principle Works in practice up to

160 milligrams of lithium carbonate

could be extracted from a liter of

thermal water

that's lithium carbonate precipitate

this white powder is what the industry

uses to make Lithium-ion batteries

some sites in Germany are very promising

for lithium extraction but researchers

still don't know how much lithium might

be recoverable from Europe's thermal

Waters

the north German Basin and the Ryan

trench are both encouraging

soaring demand and the prospect for

finding valuable lithium closer to home

is sparking innovative ideas and

solutions

including in poksar a quiet town near

kasua in Southwestern Germany

during the aftermath of the energy

crisis in the 1980s utility enbw drilled

a borehole to tap into thermal water

deep underground

but when fossil fuel prices remain low

the project was paused

but a geothermal plant has now sprung up

Atop The borehole with plans to extract

even more from the Steam and water

this borehole extends 2540 meters

underground where there's a natural

thermal water deposit the water is 134

degrees Celsius and we use its energy

for district Heating and electricity and

we hope it will supply us with lithium

in the future we've known for a while

that the water is rich in lithium we

considered it in 2012 but at the time

lithium was less important then

Lithium-ion batteries came along and

cell phones in laptops in

electromobility and suddenly demand was

huge

thermal water is spring water with a

temperature of at least 20 degrees

Celsius the Polk saw thermal power plant

draws its water from a depth of more

than 2.5 kilometers

the enormous pressure underground means

the water is well over 100 degrees

Celsius

lithium wouldn't be filtered out until

after it's been tapped for heat and

electricity production reducing it to

about 60 degrees Celsius

the causeway Institute of Technology

first filters the lithium ions out of

the water and then precipitates them

into assault

high quality lithium carbonate

the thermal water is then pumped back

underground

it's a highly complex evolving process

with a promise of sustainability

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30 liters of thermal water per second or

2.4 million liters per day flow through

the plant

if the plant extracted 70 percent of the

lithium content that would yield about

800 tons of lithium carbonate every year

enough for up to 20 000 car batteries

the battery for a very special prototype

was produced here in 2017.

it was the first intra Logistics vehicle

equipped with a permanent lithium-ion

battery

the Prototype meant that one of the

world's largest forklift manufacturers

was switching to lithium-ion technology

the benefits finally outweighed the

drawbacks

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the advantages of lithium-ion technology

are obvious for example Lithium-ion

batteries have a very high energy

density which means that a lot of energy

can be obtained from a comparatively

small battery

the vehicles can also be smaller and

more compact which is a true advantage

the next generation of vehicles became

even more Compact and efficient and the

long service life and High Energy

Efficiency of Lithium-ion batteries also

boosted sustainability

in fact lithium ion batteries cut carbon

emissions in electric vehicles by 20

over lead batteries and compared to a

combustion forklift a diesel forklift an

electric motor with a Lithium-Ion

battery Cuts carbon emissions by 50

percent

hundreds of thousands of lithium-ion

vehicles are already in use in

warehouses around the world and the

industry is striving for sustainability

the batteries are screwed together

rather than welded and they don't

contain critical raw materials such as

Cobalt reuse and recycling are integral

to the production process

the large-scale adoption of Lithium-ion

batteries in intra Logistics has put the

focus on recycling

the industry wants to ensure that a

sustainable technology remains

sustainable Beyond its original intended

use it's a concept called Second Life

thank you

one German company produces new

batteries and also recycles them JT

Energy Systems the company specializes

in intra Logistics batteries

and business is booming

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this is the new production plant it will

go online in the next two or three weeks

to help cover demands

we're expanding production

Logistics is also booming so we're

actually seeing two effects the

substitution effect and growth

the advantages of lithium-ion technology

over conventional lead acid batteries

are so apparent that customers are

switching the forklift fleets of many

Global players are already lithium-ion

and many competitors are also getting on

board

ramping up production is also lowering

costs

but what about spent batteries

what will the industry do about reuse

and recycling

you generally get batteries back that

were sold about seven eight nine ten

years ago the latest generation hasn't

been around that long yet so it's hard

to say how long they'll last it could be

10 or 15 years or closer to six or seven

years we're currently expanding our

capacity for repair Recycling and

Diagnostics

the latest generation of batteries are

designed so they can be given a second

or even a third life

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this battery is primarily assembled with

screws and it can be dismantled just by

unscrewing it it's easier to break down

than something that's welded together

16 cells are inside here for instance if

our Diagnostics show that one cell is no

longer fully functional we can replace

that cell swapping it out for a new or a

recycled cell that's how we breathe a

second life into this product

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foreign

ergy storage facility is under

construction just 50 meters away it's

primarily made from used Lithium-ion

batteries from intra Logistics it's an

ambitious project with a lot of promise

this hole is about 30 by 35 meters and

will become a huge battery storage

facility something on the order of 20

megawatt hours the energy in the grid

tends to fluctuate when an especially

large amount of electricity is drawn

from the grid this facility can offset

it

a stationary energy storage system is

just one potential second life for used

Lithium-ion batteries from the intra

Logistics sector

a battery storage facility is very

sustainable we can store used modules

here and use them to stabilize the grid

that also allows us to postpone the

recycling process any module that could

be defective is analyzed before it's

installed then it might stay here till

it's outlived its lifespan or it might

be passed on to another customer who

wants to use it we have to thoroughly

check the cells before we install them

in a module and a cell testing station

we already have a module test station so

we can classify modules as category A B

C or D category D's have to be evaluated

again at the cell level on that test

station will be built later this year

about

that

the test center is under construction

about 40 kilometers away in the city of

Dresden it will be the first device of

its kind equipped with artificial

intelligence

the station's designers hope the unit

will solve a problem that has long

hindered the efficient recycling of

Lithium-ion batteries

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testing lithium-ion battery is quickly

and safely wasn't possible until now

when used batteries were returned we

wouldn't know what condition they were

in or what they could still be used for

this device can tell us that quickly and

accurately and it can learn how to deal

with new types of batteries this is the

brain of the AI system which is how it

learns later when it's really smart

you'll be able to link a small device to

the cloud and do the same thing that the

big machine does out in the field a

service technician could have a small

unit like this and check the battery's

condition in just 90 seconds

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equipped with artificial intelligence

the test station will eventually become

a mobile application that can assess the

condition of every cell inside a battery

that information will make it possible

to determine the best use for spent

batteries

it's also vital for a sustainable and

efficient energy storage facility

is a second life case you have to

imagine the second life like this a big

truck drives up with lots of different

batteries what do we do with them how

many years how many can be reused that's

the first problem

currently it's done by charging and

discharging every battery to count how

many electrons flow into them

that takes between five and eight hours

per battery

truckload takes a long time

but a whole bunch of trucks so the

advantage is the time it saves and I

don't need to know anything about the

batteries the truck drives up the

batteries pass through the test station

and we see what condition they're in

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artificial intelligence is also opening

a number of other doors

AI can not only help diagnose used

batteries it can also make battery

manufacturing more efficient and

sustainable and the more AI learns about

a battery the more information it can

provide on its lifespan

if the dresden-based company succeeds

with its ai-based test system they'll be

able to considerably improve both the

safety and the sustainability of

Lithium-ion batteries

and that wouldn't just affect the intra

Logistics and Automotive Industries

while hydrogen technology has some

advantages for trucks and other large

Vehicles despite its low efficiency

lithium-ion technology Remains the key

for helping many other sectors operate

more efficiently and sustainably

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electrification projects are already

enabling the switch from diesel fuel to

lithium ion batteries one of the world's

first fully electric front-end loaders

is being built here

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as batteries from intra Logistics not

the car industry and their nickel and

Cobalt free

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the 2200 is the is the most sold machine

in our class it's a two-tons machine

which you can easily transport on a

trailer that's the reason that we the

first approach is electrifying the

two-tones class

another example of the potential of

lithium-ion technology the construction

vehicles are quieter more efficient and

significantly more sustainable it was a

lot of development in the hardware

software but at the end it drives more

smoothly than a diesel machinery

lithium ion technology has numerous

applications including construction and

agricultural machinery and new

scientific advances are also enabling

the switch from internal combustion

engines and lead acid batteries to

lithium-ion technology

the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in

Stockholm recognized the advances in

2019

Lithium-ion batteries according to the

academy had laid the foundation of a

fossil fuel free Society

John goodino Akira Yoshino

and Stanley Whittingham were awarded the

Nobel Prize in chemistry for their

lithium-ion work

another and perhaps more exotic way to

extend the lifespan of batteries is

being studied in the University of Hala

in Germany where researchers are trying

to create a self-healing battery

foreign

we're developing materials that can be

applied to battery electrodes as a kind

of coating or protective layer

those Coatings then introduce a

self-healing mechanism into the existing

battery electrode systems

it might sound like science fiction but

binder and his team are already

conducting small scale studies will they

develop a battery that can heal itself

a challenge especially for newer high

performance batteries which demand even

more from the components

during charging and discharging the

electrode materials inside the battery

are constantly changing volumes

in other words they're expanding during

charging and shrinking during

discharging

that also means that these materials

which are solid materials will

eventually experience wear and tear as

our volume expands and contracts like a

balloon and eventually they break

the researchers apply a polymer coating

to materials that are experiencing

significant stress the coating is

designed to reduce or even prevent

cracks and damage to the battery which

could significantly extend the battery's

lifespan

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but the research is highly complex

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finding the right chemical compound for

each material requires a great deal of

patience and finesse but the result is

worth the effort

the NC is

when you build self-healing mechanisms

into a battery you potentially extend

its life that produces the footprint of

the technology

the footprint depends on the raw

materials so by reducing the raw

materials you also reduce your carbon

footprint which is rather important

nowadays

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have the scientists already solved the

challenges posed by e-mobility is the

technology ready for the mass Market

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we're still at a relatively early stage

of development

we can see that materials like this work

in principle but it will take a few more

years before it can be successfully used

one material that might help bridge the

gap is zinwaldite which contains lithium

and is named after the tsinvad region of

Germany's

mountains Zin walldite can be found

underground in massive quantities in the

German state of Saxony not long ago

researchers developed a new process for

extracting the lithium

diet process so special is that we've

learned how to deal with the chemistry

it's invaldite we know how to do

something with the lithium iron aluminum

and fluoride we can extract just the

lithium but and this was key we can

extract the fluoride too the mineral we

know from toothpaste and Teflon pans we

converted a costly environmental toxin

fluoride to a product and we extracted

the lithium using a remarkably

straightforward process by heating it

and pressing CO2 onto it it's that easy

the new process could liberate Europe

from imported lithium

that's what's great about it we use

ordinary CO2 which is normally seen as a

climate killer and we have no waste we

don't have to add chemicals and our

process chips away at CO2 what we end up

with is lithium carbonate we use only

CO2 there's no waste and for me that's a

process with the future

so far

yeah

we're facing a massive glut of spent and

damaged Lithium-ion batteries will we be

able to recycle them and recover the

valuable metals and other materials

is truly efficient and sustainable

battery recycling even possible

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to lithium-ion batteries have

traditionally been melted down in a

furnace at 1000 degrees Celsius the

critical and valuable resources they

contained were lost

experts now believe that mechanical

recycling is the best option and could

handle the rising flood of spent

batteries

foreign

at the world's oldest mining University

in Fryeburg researchers have been

studying how to best recycle Lithium-ion

batteries for more than a decade

we're somewhere halfway down the path of

developing recycling technology we don't

know everything yet but we're no longer

clueless like 10 years ago in theory we

can now mechanically recycle a

Lithium-Ion battery there are companies

that do that now we have to figure out

the finer details

the wide variety of battery types made

by many different manufacturers is just

one challenge but researchers are still

convinced that mechanical recycling

disassembling and shredding the battery

is the right approach

Ai and augmented reality could play a

major role sometimes the layers of

material that need to be separated are

thinner than a human hair and there are

other challenges too

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the EU has set good sustainability

targets which is part of the discussion

they've said okay 65 of this Mass needs

to be recycled which still leaves 35

that doesn't have to be directly

recycled but we still have to extract a

set percentage of nickel Cobalt copper

and lithium and that's a challenge

if I have to extract 90 of a metal in

the battery then I need to get inside

the South

and I need to lose no more than 10

percent of the metal in the process

I think mechanical processes together

with other processes can achieve that

not easily but it can be done

yeah

Science and Industry are coming up with

innovative solutions and making an

important contribution to the

sustainability of Lithium-ion batteries

but many recycling plants today are

already working at capacity and

production waste will also have to be

recycled which has only partially been

factored into the equation

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the recycling industry is growing and

accelerating but will they be able to

handle the millions of spent batteries

that will need sustainable recycling by

2030.

Second Life storage facilities could

make a difference the first battery

modules are arriving today at the 20

megawatt stationary storage facility

and this is just the beginning

about 13 000 battery modules will be

installed here about 2 000 are used the

rest

the used modules are on their last life

so there aren't all that many yet

but that will change and it will

increase the sustainability of our

facility

storage facility is modular so it can be

expanded

that will allow the facility to store

more and more energy over time and it

will extend the lifespan of the

batteries by years

the engineers are also working to ensure

safety an important job in a high

performance facility filled with used

batteries

foreign

have an AI system that monitors the

modules to ensure fire and electrical

safety

it gives us a lot of data which we can

assess down to the cell

AI helps us monitor this huge facility

down to the smallest of details

artificial intelligence helps make the

facility safe and scalable

several facilities like this one can be

monitored by a small Workforce

and AI is also key to the cell test

stations

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we can now take the cells out of the

used modules analyze them at the test

station and assemble them into a new

good battery module

[Music]

Research into more efficient and

sustainable power units is continuing

industry is also on board and has

designed new and more efficient concepts

for moving Goods inside warehouses

one of the most promising ideas in the

field of lithium-ion battery power is

amr's autonomous mobile robots

[Music]

Energy Efficiency is always an issue the

vehicles behind me are very small so

they need batteries with a high energy

density is

these small batteries we go eight hours

on a single charge

that's remarkable for a vehicle that can

carry a full time transported

[Music]

these robots are small and agile their

low weight also reduces their power

consumption

is this the wave of the future

it's conceivable that we could use lead

acid or conventional Technologies but

there would be many disadvantages we'd

have to fully discharge the batteries to

avoid a memory

effects

with lithium ion batteries you can use

short breaks in the workflow to do a

quick charge

that way the vehicle keeps running for

more than eight hours it might even

manage two full shifts before it needs a

full overnight charge

[Music]

in Munich researchers are already

working on the next generation of amrs

which will be even more advanced

[Music]

so I'm currently trying to connect to

the robot so that I can test if it can

drive with a new product backpack and if

it can lift and drop down the pellets so

the hardest thing I guess is to put

everything together like make sure that

all the parts of the system are working

together and

integrated

well for today the goal is that the

robot moves the pallet from one station

to another so we will just let it drive

and observe if it works

the AMR is scheduled to go into mass

production soon

intro Logistics can benefit from

e-mobility Solutions more quickly than

other sectors in part because warehouses

are enclosed

the lithium ion batteries are also a key

factor because energy is the decisive

Factor traditional energy storage

solutions are much bigger with those our

project would never have gotten off the

ground

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foreign

technology has already transformed the

way we live and work today

[Music]

as an e-mobility Pioneer the intra

Logistics industry is already

anticipating the challenges and

opportunities the green energy

transition will bring

[Music]

researchers are working to design

Innovative and Sustainable Solutions

and collaborating with industry to

develop the next generation of

lithium-ion technology

together they share the same vital goal

creating a better and more sustainable

future

[Music]