Europe spends a lot of time talking about battery gigafactories. We discuss cell chemistries, subsidy schemes, factory locations, and how many gigawatts of capacity will be built by when. All of that matters. But a part of the battery value chain rarely makes it into these conversations, even though it has a disproportionate impact on cost, risk, and credibility. Battery chemicals. Not cells or packs, but the solvents, electrolytes, and precursors that sit upstream of every c

Europe keeps announcing “battery partnerships” with Asian players with great enthusiasm — but when you look closely, the only thing landing here in any meaningful quantity is concrete. A T&E/Carbone4 report, which came out this February and which I’ve missed, lays out what many of us working in manufacturing have suspected for years: technology isn’t coming, know-how isn’t coming, and the only thing being localised is the assembly hall.

Why Tesla Pivots to Korea from China?

Why touchscreens are not the key strength of the Chinese car industry.

I spoke with a European founder developing his own battery cells. Just getting permits for the mixing and coating stages pushed his...

Airbus showed Europe can beat giants like Boeing through distributed collaboration. Could batteries follow the same path—moving from vertically integrated gigafactories to networks of “partners in success”?

This was my second Battery Day in the Netherlands. Last year I came for the first time and was surprised at how much battery innovation...

A short comparison of LDES technologies

The lessons of Natron Energy collapse

In the end, it had to be a political decision. After half a year of sifting through more than twenty locations and countless meetings...

Alternative business model for a battery factory

This post is about how Duke went from idea to operational factory in under 9 months—and what practical lessons it offers for cleantech scale-ups.

What Renault 5 might mean for the EU car industry.

How to transform from project to product.

How can you hype up, raise investments, burn the money, and do it all again? I have no idea, but life proves that it is possible, again and again.

Working capital is a big challenge for B2C solar and storage startups. Or is it?

This year, the mood at the Smarter E Europe expo in Munich is different. With many EU battery startups going under, the only way to survive is to find the right partner from Asia.

How the EU can build its own battery industry

Two things I got wrong about Saudi Arabia BESS market

Is the Middle East really the next big thing for battery storage—or just another mirage?