Impact
The main result of MeBattery will be a radically new type of battery, which will have an impact on the following levels:
Economy & SocietyEconomy & Society
If the battery technology proposed in MeBattery is successful, in the mid to long term, Europe could reduce its dependency on Lithium-ion battery imports from Asian countries. Being an interdisciplinary technology that could be fully industrialized in Europe, it is expected that massive-scale production of the proposed batteries will generate a significant number of specialized jobs within European borders in fields such as mechanical, chemical and electrical engineering, power electronics, chemical synthesis, mixing and separation processes, procurement and logistics.
As the current booming market for batteries is mostly driven by electric vehicles, their potential social and economic impact are also aligned. Furthermore, cheap, safe, and long-lasting batteries envisioned in this project can contribute to boosting the renewable energy conversion and storage market both centralized and distributed. Hence, batteries can have an additional social and economic impact by reducing electricity prices, an essential component of both family and company expenditures.
Environment & ClimateEnvironment & Climate
Batteries are considered an essential enabling technology for the massive implementation of electric vehicles and renewable generation technologies. Therefore, high-performance, safe, reliable and cheap batteries will have a remarkable impact on the reduction of CO2 emissions from fossil fuels. Consequently, they will help reduce oil and gas imports in most European countries.
SustainabilitySustainability
The type of batteries proposed will use more abundant and accessible raw materials (e.g. Fe, Mn, Cu, Al) and be designed to facilitate dismantling, reuse and recycling at the end of the service life, following circular economy concepts. Significant reduction of imports of raw materials and waste generation can be expected, with positive impacts for both the trade balance and the environment.
As a specific example, the global market for utility grid-scale energy storage is expected to reach 60GWh (€ 10bn sales) by 2025 (EUROBAT best estimates), requiring 600,000 tons of V2O5 (10t V2O5/MWh) for V flow batteries. Technically, MeBattery could completely replace this.