Author name: Redaktion

Battery-News is becoming part of the newly independent PEM Share GmbH. The new company combines trade media with training, events, and a network spanning industry, research, and startups. For readers, that should mean one thing above all: more context, more real-world relevance, and new formats — while journalistic standards remain unchanged. Readers of Battery-News will continue to get reliable news from the battery industry. What’s new, above all, is what’s growing behind the editorial team: PEM Share is building an environment where technical expertise, industrial experience, training, and industry contacts come together more closely. Battery-News remains the media foundation of that environment — but will be able to move beyond spot news more often, providing deeper context on industry developments. For the editorial team, that’s the next step: Battery-News is professionalizing further, without changing its editorial core. PEM Share GmbH is being established as an independent company as part of the broader restructuring of the former PEM Motion ecosystem. Its focus is on knowledge transfer, professional development, media, and networking. Alongside Battery-News, its portfolio includes the Battery Production Days and the E-Mobility Production Awards. In short: what stays — and what’s new What stays: Battery-News continues to report as a journalistic industry platform covering companies, technologies, markets, and regulatory developments. What’s new: Broader access to technical expertise, industrial practice, and additional sources. What will expand: Analysis, interviews, project reports, and multimedia and interactive formats. What remains non-negotiable: A clear separation between corporate interests, expert assessments, and editorially verified facts. More than another news item The battery industry isn’t just producing more innovations — it’s also generating more information. New production technologies, regulatory requirements, battery safety questions, European supply chains, and new cell and storage concepts are all evolving in parallel. For industry professionals and decision-makers, simply knowing that something happened is increasingly not enough. What matters is understanding what a given development means technically, economically, and from a regulatory standpoint. That’s exactly where Battery-News plans to focus more going forward. Through the PEM Share network, the editorial team can draw on experts, companies, research institutions, and emerging technology providers. That access is especially useful for topics that can’t be assessed based on corporate announcements or market data alone, but require additional technical and industrial context. The plan is to supplement current news more often with background knowledge and application-focused perspectives. That includes in-depth analyses of technologies and production processes, context on regulatory and economic developments, conversations with experts, and reports from development and industrialization projects. Content related to training sessions, trade events, and industry gatherings will also be more closely connected. Knowledge transfer in both directions The connection between media, training, and network is not a one-way street. Questions that surface in Battery-News’ coverage can spark ideas for training sessions and expert discussions. Conversely, discussions from events or industrial projects can point to topics that have so far received too little attention in public industry communication. “The battery industry doesn’t need more information — it needs better context. At PEM Share, we combine technical know-how, industrial practice, and industry communication, turning news into knowledge that actually helps companies move forward,” says Christoph Lienemann, managing director and shareholder of PEM Share GmbH. Clear roles, shared expertise As part of the new PEM Group structure, PEM Share will concentrate on knowledge, media, professional development, and networking. PEM Volterra handles battery testing, analysis, compliance, and market access, while the new PEM Motion oversees industrial development and innovation projects. WLF Energy, which now houses the former Battery Management Systems business unit, is also part of the expanded partner network. PEM Share is backed by Christoph Lienemann, Sebastian Küster, Prof. Achim Kampker, and Dr.-Ing. Christoph Deutskens as shareholders, with Prof. Heiner Heimes serving as an advisory board member. These experts and industry veterans bring together experience from research, industrial implementation, training, and industry communication. Their combined perspectives help not only track developments, but also make sense of them for the industry in clear, practical terms. The Battery-News editorial team itself remains unchanged. This seasoned team continues to bring its journalistic experience and industry expertise to the table — with plans to keep growing in the years ahead.

Battery-News presents an updated map of battery production equipment providers in Europe in cooperation with the chair “Production Engineering of E-Mobility Components” (PEM) of RWTH Aachen University (as of February 2026). The overview was compiled by Sebastian Wolf and Professor Heiner Heimes (PEM, RWTH Aachen University). Equipment suppliers across five production areas The map covers equipment providers in 14 European countries. Germany has by far the largest concentration of listed companies, while additional suppliers are located in Italy, Austria, Switzerland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Hungary and Spain. The overview distinguishes five areas of battery production: electrode manufacturing, cell assembly, cell finishing, module and pack production, and atmosphere conditioning. Several companies supply equipment for more than one of these production stages. The map therefore illustrates both the geographical distribution of suppliers and their respective fields of activity. The map is available for free download in high resolution. This overview does not claim to be exhaustive – the editorial team welcomes corrections and additions via the contact form.

Manufacturing modern battery cells places stringent demands on the environment in which they are produced. Controlling moisture, particulate matter, and potential emissions is especially critical. While dry rooms have long been established in conventional lithium-ion production, new battery types and specialized applications are introducing additional challenges. We spoke with Bahattin Celik, dry room expert at Weiss Technik, about how dry room requirements are currently evolving — and why these specialized production environments are becoming a priority once again. Dry rooms have been a central component of battery cell production for years. What role do they play today in practice — and why is moisture control so critical for many battery types? Dry rooms are no longer a ‘nice to have’ — they are an absolute prerequisite for many battery manufacturing processes. Depending on the cell chemistry, moisture directly interferes with the electrochemical properties and can significantly impact both performance and lifetime. Particularly in early process steps, such as electrode manufacturing or cell assembly, even trace amounts of water are enough to cause problems that only manifest weeks or months later in the field. That is why maintaining a stable, reproducible dry room atmosphere is critical. Does this apply equally to all battery types — or do requirements differ significantly depending on the application? The differences can be substantial. Conventional NMC or LFP battery cells — for example, those used in automotive applications — are already sensitive to moisture, but many specialty batteries are considerably more critical. For certain types, even minimal deviations from the target dew point can irreversibly damage materials. Add to this the fact that in specialty applications we frequently work not with high production volumes, but with very precisely defined processes. There is little margin for error, and the requirements for stability and process control are correspondingly higher. Where do you see the most significant differences between dry rooms for conventional automotive cells and those for specialty batteries — for example, in defense or aerospace applications? Automotive battery dry rooms are strongly oriented toward throughput and standardization — which makes perfect sense. Specialty batteries are exactly the opposite: smaller material quantities, unique cell chemistries, and often elevated safety requirements. Production processes must be more flexible, since reconfigurations inside the dry room are more frequent, and there are often additional requirements stemming from explosion protection or hazardous materials regulations. All of this has a major influence on dry room design — from airflow management to sensor systems, filtration, and controls. You also work with battery types such as thermal batteries and thionyl chloride cells. What makes these applications particularly demanding from a dry room engineering perspective? Thermal batteries involve highly reactive, extremely moisture-sensitive materials — sometimes in powder or pellet form. Other systems use aggressive or unstable media that must also be handled safely. From a dry room perspective, this means very stable dew points, controlled particulate levels, and at the same time a high degree of process safety. The fact that only very small quantities of materials are processed makes control and monitoring even more challenging. Why do conventional gas detection systems and sensors struggle with very small quantities of substances? Many gas detection systems and sensors are designed for standard industrial applications. In extremely dry air and with very low emission levels, these systems quickly reach their physical detection limits. Measurement signals become unstable or fall near the detection threshold. In an emergency, this can be problematic, because trends or gradual changes are recognized too late — posing a risk to both personnel and product. In the specialty battery environment, simply monitoring threshold values is usually not sufficient. What solutions are available? Do sensor systems and safety concepts need to be specifically adapted for such environments? Absolutely. In these applications, sensor systems, gas detection concepts, and filtration must be developed in an integrated system. This can mean incorporating additional filtration stages or repositioning measurement points — for example, closer to the hazard source, or through the use of redundant sensors. The suitability of sensors for extremely dry ambient conditions must also be factored into the technical selection process. The control strategy plays a central role as well: it is not simply a matter of ‘alarm yes or no,’ but rather how the overall system responds to even the smallest deviations. For instance, when detecting hazardous substances, a pre-alarm level can be used to initiate technical countermeasures in the system at an early stage, preventing harm to personnel or product. In most cases, this is not purely a hardware issue, but rather a combination of well-thought-out design, intelligent programming, and the experience required for accurate hazard assessment. You mention specialized adaptations in sensor systems and filters. Another concept that plays a role here is that of mini environments. What is behind this term? Mini environments are essentially locally enclosed battery production units within a dry room that provide even stricter or more specialized conditions. Rather than bringing the entire dry room to an extremely low dew point, the focus is placed selectively on the truly critical process steps and production equipment along the battery manufacturing line. This increases process reliability while also being economically sensible — particularly for smaller production runs or changing production layouts. Comparing these concepts — the conventional dry room, the mini environment, and taking it one step further: micro environments, i.e., the complete encapsulation of the process itself — what are the respective strengths of each, and which approach is right for which use case? The conventional dry room is robust and easily accessible — ideal for many standard processes. Mini environments offer an excellent balance of control, flexibility, and cost. Micro environments — fully enclosed sections within the production equipment — enable maximum control, but also come with significant demands in terms of maintenance, service, and emergency procedures. The right solution depends heavily on the process, the cell chemistry, and the operational requirements. There is no blanket ‘better or worse’ answer. Micro environments sound attractive at first — less space, more

In an exclusive interview with Battery-News, Christoph Gasiorek from BAHMÜLLER explains the role that process stability plays in the competitiveness of battery production.

Battery-News provides an overview of planned and already implemented projects in the field of module and pack production for lithium-ion batteries in Europe.

ANDRITZ Schuler has delivered a 1.5-gigawatt formation line to a leading battery manufacturer in southern Germany, producing cells for a renowned German OEM.

With the ramp-up of numerous cell factories and recycling facilities, more and more battery training courses and personnel development programs are emerging in North America.

With its 2025 Battery Report, Volta Foundation has published one of the most widely referenced industry analyses of the global battery sector, now available as a free download.