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The E-Mobility Production Awards will be presented for the fourth time on October 20, 2026, at the Battery Production Days (BPD) in Aachen. Prizes will be awarded in three categories: the jury awards “Battery Production” and “E-Motor Production,” and the community award “Process Innovation in Battery Production.” The awards are presented by the PEM Institute at RWTH Aachen University together with PEM Share and Berylls by AlixPartners. Applying for the community award Unlike the two jury awards, the community award is decided on the basis of submitted entries. Eligible are technologies and methods that improve the efficiency, quality, or sustainability of battery production. Applications can be submitted until September 28, 2026, using the organizers’ entry form. An award committee will draw up a shortlist based on two criteria: degree of novelty, and benefit and potential. Applicants will find out on September 30, 2026, whether their innovation has reached the final round. Two-stage voting The finalists are decided in a two-stage vote. Online voting runs until October 18, 2026. The entries will then be presented as posters at the Battery Production Days on October 20 and put to a live vote on site. The awards will be handed over the same day from 6 p.m. at the BPD evening event in Aachen. Attending the Battery Production Days is a prerequisite for taking part in the live vote and the award ceremony. Members of VDMA Battery Production receive a 15 percent discount with the code “VDMA15.” Tickets and further information are available at battery-production-days.de.

Factory planning is becoming a bottleneck for the battery industry: high capital requirements, long lead times, and little margin for error. The EDAG Group has developed an AI-powered configurator that delivers robust layout concepts for battery cell factories during the early planning phase—in a matter of minutes. Digitalization, decarbonization, and skilled-labor shortages are putting manufacturers across industries under growing pressure to transform, even as supply chains remain fragile and energy prices volatile. Companies planning a new factory today must make far-reaching decisions about location, capacity, and technology at an early stage—often without reliable benchmarks and within tight budget constraints. Battery cell manufacturing is under particular pressure. Projects typically cost hundreds of millions and can reach into the low billions; lead times are long, and demand remains difficult to forecast. After several announced gigafactory projects in Europe were delayed or halted in recent years, the industry is under growing pressure to validate site-selection and capacity decisions earlier and with greater confidence—before capital is committed. This is precisely where the EDAG Group aims to help. In summer 2025, its EDAG Production Solutions business unit developed the Smart Factory Network Configurator. Based on just a few key inputs—such as target capacity, investment budget, and space requirements—the tool generates initial layout concepts in minutes, complete with preliminary material-flow simulation, technology options, and cost estimates. “The early planning phase determines a battery cell factory’s costs, schedule, and production targets. That is exactly where the Smart Factory Network Configurator comes in: Instead of waiting weeks for initial benchmarks, our customers receive robust layout concepts in minutes,” says Philipp Hummel, Specialist Consultant for Smart Factory Planning. He presented the project at Batterieforum Deutschland 2026 in January. Inside the Factory Configurator The tool combines several AI methods. Generative and agentic AI applications, together with machine learning, turn a small set of input parameters into hundreds of thousands of variants. The configurator analyzes the inputs, checks them against integrated domain databases, and automatically generates layout options with cost estimates. EDAG reports that, in reference projects, this has cut the time from initial concept to feasibility assessment from an average of two months to two to four weeks. Two Battery Cell Manufacturing Use Cases Two battery cell manufacturing use cases described by the EDAG Group in a white paper illustrate how the approach works in practice. In the first case, a customer is planning a new manufacturing facility for NMC811 lithium-ion pouch cells and defines the following at the start of the project: After reviewing an initial design with an annual capacity of 8 gigawatt-hours, the customer requests a configuration that can scale by a factor of 1.5. The EDAG team simulates multiple scenarios in the configurator and prepares a cost estimate for the 12-gigawatt-hour option. According to the EDAG Group, the outcome is a set of validated layout concepts featuring scalable production structures and transparent investment scenarios for future capacity expansions. In the second case, a company with sites in Europe is evaluating the relocation of a plant to the United States and provides data from its German facility: For a like-for-like comparison, the system keeps target capacity, capital investment, and space requirements constant across both locations. The differences emerge primarily in the details, including alternative sourcing structures and different energy costs at the U.S. site. If needed, the EDAG team can further optimize the layout for the new site’s logistics requirements. At the customer’s request, the results can feed into detailed planning and the development of digital twins in metys, EDAG’s Industrial Metaverse platform—for example, to visualize and assess layout changes virtually. Conclusion: Data Quality Remains Critical The Smart Factory Network Configurator is not a substitute for the expertise of factory planners or for subsequent detailed planning. It does, however, move the comparison of design alternatives to an earlier stage, when changes can still be made with relatively little effort.

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.

In cooperation with the chair “Production Engineering of E-Mobility Components” (PEM) of RWTH Aachen University, Battery-News presents an updated map of passive battery cell component manufacturers in Europe (as of February 2026). The overview was compiled by Benedikt Späth and Professor Heiner Heimes (PEM, RWTH Aachen University). The map covers 58 companies: 53 with dedicated sites across 14 countries plus five suppliers operating Europe-wide. Germany dominates the landscape with 27 locations – nearly half of all entries – followed by clusters in Austria, France, the United Kingdom and Hungary. Passive cell components include cell housings, aluminium and copper foils, separator materials, seals and gaskets, adhesives, insulation materials and functional coatings – the parts of a lithium-ion cell that do not take part in the electrochemical reaction. The map is available for free download in high resolution. The overview does not claim to be exhaustive – the editorial team welcomes corrections and additions via the contact form.

Solid-state batteries have long been touted as the next big leap for electric vehicles — higher energy density, improved safety, faster charging. But while many manufacturers are still stuck in the lab, one Taiwanese company is already pouring concrete in northern France. In February 2026, ProLogium held the official groundbreaking ceremony for its first European gigafactory at the Port of Dunkirk — marking one of the first large-scale solid-state cell production lines anywhere on the continent. Founded in 2006, ProLogium is one of the world’s most advanced makers of lithium ceramic batteries. Unlike many of its competitors, the company isn’t just running pilot lines: its gigafactory in Taoyuan, Taiwan, has been in mass production since 2024 and has shipped more than 800,000 cells to date, according to the company. With an investment of roughly €5.2 billion and a planned capacity of up to 48 GWh, the Dunkirk site is set to become the anchor of solid-state battery manufacturing in Europe, backed by partnerships with Mercedes-Benz, Mahle, and Rimac. On the sidelines of The Battery Show, we sat down with Vincent Yang, founder and CEO of ProLogium, and Christina Chen, Head of Business Management, to talk about the company’s European strategy — the path from technology leadership to industrial-scale manufacturing, why France won out as a location, and what the rest of Europe’s battery industry can learn from one of the first companies to take solid-state cells into series production. Why Europe, Why Now For ProLogium, Europe’s appeal comes down to one word: stability. Compared with the United States and China, where policy and market conditions can shift abruptly, Yang describes Europe as a reliable anchor — a consideration that carries extra weight given ongoing geopolitical tensions surrounding Taiwan and China. The groundbreaking in early February 2026 marked the company’s shift from planning to construction on its first plant outside Taiwan. A Port, Nuclear Power, and an Ecosystem That Fits In choosing a location within Europe, Yang points to several factors: By 2030, the site is expected to create roughly 3,000 direct and 12,000 indirect jobs. ProLogium has maintained a Paris office since 2024. The Technology: A Ceramic Separator Instead of a Conventional Electrolyte At the core of ProLogium’s technology is a solid-state battery built around a ceramic separator that, according to the company, remains stable even at high temperatures and varying current loads. A key safety claim: even if a cell’s temperature spikes sharply, it doesn’t go into thermal runaway. The cell itself stops working, but the vehicle and its occupants remain safe. ProLogium is especially proud of its proprietary coating process, which applies the separator directly onto the electrode instead of relying on the conventional approach of placing a separate separator film. The process has no specific brand name; what matters is that it eliminates the separator-film placement step entirely, enabling an efficient roll-to-roll process with automatic roll changeover. Electrode and separator are then stacked and laminated together as a pre-assembled unit. A key differentiator for ProLogium: the company isn’t just showing lab results — it already runs mass production, with a manufacturing line operating in Taiwan since 2024 and correspondingly mature processes. That, the company argues, sets it apart from more heavily hyped competitors that haven’t yet reached series production. European Partners, Not Chinese Dependency To build out its European supply chain, ProLogium is actively courting local partners, particularly in machinery and equipment manufacturing. A priority for the company is sourcing equipment and handling assembly locally in Europe, reducing reliance on Chinese suppliers. ProLogium aims to have its own equipment installed at the French site by 2028, leaving room for European machine builders to still get involved. Beyond the traditional automotive sector, ProLogium sees particular potential in applications such as marine use, drones, and robotics. What’s Next ProLogium positions itself as one of the few solid-state battery makers to move beyond announcements and into physical mass production. With the Dunkirk groundbreaking, a €5.2 billion investment, and partnerships with Mercedes-Benz, Mahle, and Rimac, the company is staking a claim to becoming a cornerstone of European battery sovereignty. Whether — and how quickly — that ambition translates into production output and market share will become clear in the coming years. Initial capacity in Dunkirk is expected by 2028.

Achim Kampker on frustration, the long game in battery manufacturing – and why Europe needs to act now Achim Kampker is a professor at RWTH Aachen University and chair of the PEM (Production Engineering of E-Mobility Components) research group. As co-inventor of the StreetScooter, he knows firsthand what it takes to move a technology from the lab to the real world. His new book “Zukunftsfrust – Zukunftsmut” – roughly translated as “Frustrated About the Future, Courageous About the Future” – has just been published. Part political manifesto, part strategic roadmap, it names the paralysis for what it is while still making the case for a fresh start. Battery News sat down with him to talk about what’s holding Europe back – and what it would take to change course. Professor Kampker, your book’s title sounds like a contradiction – frustration and courage at the same time. Where do things stand right now? My first book – Zukunftslust – was genuinely optimistic across the board. It made the case that technology can solve our biggest challenges. And when I talked to people about it, I heard a lot of agreement – but also a lot of frustration. The sense of being stuck, of feeling unable to get anything off the ground, of watching the world around you fail to move in the direction you’d hoped. Sometimes frustration with yourself, too – because these things always cut both ways. I didn’t want to ignore that. I didn’t want to just push on and say: let’s set all that aside and keep going with a smile. That’s not what I’m seeing out there. And the courage? That comes from step two: what do you do with it? That’s where personal responsibility comes in – taking action. The future – what happens tomorrow and the day after – is at least partly in our hands. Not entirely, but partly. That’s the core of what I’m trying to do: meet people where they are right now, and then look forward – at what we can actually shape together. For the book, you spoke with a diverse group of people – Hildegard Müller, Rafael Laguna, Andreas Pinkwart, Boris Palmer. What do they have in common? Altogether I spoke with 14 people from very different backgrounds. Two things stood out. First, many of them are genuinely dissatisfied with the status quo. But second – and this was crucial to me – none of them are people who just tear things down. They take an honest look at where we are, and then each of them has a forward-looking perspective that they actually live by. I didn’t want to talk to people who only demand that others step up. I wanted people who have already put something on the line themselves. And what sets them apart from each other? Their fields, their perspectives, their approaches. Boris Palmer as a politician who faces a lot of headwinds but is driven to push things forward. Hildegard Müller from the vantage point of industry associations and the automotive sector. Then entrepreneurs who have moved between academia and business, all the way to startup founders. I deliberately left the contradictions in – not everyone shares the same view. But what unites them all is this: they want to move forward. And they do. Your book describes a paradox: technologically, almost anything seems possible – yet collectively we do too little, or the wrong things. What does that look like in the battery industry specifically? Technologically, we’re still very strong – even if people often dismiss that. But look at battery technology: we started out enthusiastic, and then we missed the window anyway. That’s symptomatic. We often try to jump on trains that have already left the station. In the battery space, we spent years debating whether it even made sense, whether we shouldn’t just stick with the internal combustion engine. We tend to focus on every conceivable risk. That’s the European precautionary principle at work: we want every risk resolved before we move on to the next step. And then the regulatory burden on top of that. Exactly. The rules governing factory construction – environmental regulations that are, in principle, right and important – make factory construction several times more expensive in Germany. And they’re interpreted differently from state to state. Building a plant in Lower Saxony tells you nothing about whether you could build the same plant in Bavaria, even under similar site conditions. We end up standing in our own way. And then the competition from Asia. Which is very real. Especially in battery manufacturing – but also in mechanical and plant engineering, which has always been a core German strength – a serious competitor has emerged from China. One that has planned the entire value chain with strategic precision, advanced the underlying technologies, and above all, executed. We’re no longer the leader bringing a new technology to market and scaling it. We’re the challenger. That’s a role reversal we still need to fully internalize. Northvolt was Europe’s great hope for battery cell manufacturing – and it failed. What does that tell us? That it’s entirely normal for companies to fail when an industry is being built. That’s how markets work. In the process, know-how and IP get developed, and eventually someone comes along and says: I can use that. That can be a perfectly healthy process. The problem is that it’s not a German or European company stepping in to build on what’s already there – it’s an outside player. We keep allowing valuable know-how to leave Europe. It happens over and over with startups: they reach a certain scale and get acquired, because no one here is willing to put serious money on the table. Even though the money exists. Yes. There are plenty of healthy segments in industry and business where the capacity to invest is there. Committing significant capital – that’s point one. And stop looking to the government to do it. The logic of

The Battery Production Days 2026 will put start-ups from the battery production sector in the spotlight. Young companies can apply for the BPD Start-up Challenge from July 1 through August 31. The second edition of Battery Production Days will take place on October 20 and 21, 2026, in Aachen. Application Period Begins in Early July The challenge is aimed at startups developing technologies and solutions for future battery manufacturing. Applications are submitted via an online form, and a pitch deck must also be provided. Applications will be reviewed by a jury composed of industry and applied research representatives. Finalists to Present in Aachen Selected finalists will present their solutions at Battery Production Days 2026 through live pitches on stage, as well as potentially in the exhibition area. This will give the startups access to an expert audience from the battery industry, manufacturing, and applied research. Battery Production Days will take place at the Manfred-Weck-Haus in Aachen. The event is expected to draw 250 participants and feature six sessions offering more than 15 hours of networking. It is aimed at executives, production managers, engineers, researchers, startups, and companies from the battery value chain, among others. Tickets for the conference are available via the registration page. More information on how to apply is available on the BPD Start-up Challenge website.

What’s actually moving the battery industry — and who’s driving it? Battery Matters, the new quarterly podcast from Battery News and the Volta Foundation, cuts through the noise with sharp quarter recaps, key trend analysis, and candid conversations with industry heavyweights. Battery News and the Volta Foundation have joined forces for a new quarterly podcast called Battery Matters — a play on battery materials, the importance of batteries, and the battery experts behind the mic. Hosts Christoph Lienemann (Battery News) and Lauren Allanson, Director of Member Development at the Volta Foundation, conceived the format after crossing paths repeatedly on the industry event circuit. The Volta Foundation is the world’s largest professional network for the battery industry, a global not-for-profit association of more than 75,000 battery professionals and 200+ member companies. Sebastian Wolf on why Europe needs to own its energy stack The debut episode features Sebastian Wolf, former CEO of PowerCo, Volkswagen’s battery cell manufacturing subsidiary, where he oversaw gigafactory development in Salzgitter, Valencia, and Canada. Wolf left PowerCo roughly six months ago and has since founded WLF Energy GmbH, which made its public debut at The Battery Show Europe in Stuttgart on June 9, 2026. WLF Energy is positioning itself as a vertically integrated clean-energy platform, combining solar generation, battery storage, battery management systems (BMS), energy management systems (EMS), AI-driven optimization, and energy trading into a single ecosystem. The company’s stated goal is to bring the cost of clean electricity in Europe below €0.10 per kilowatt-hour. Key building blocks include the acquisition of Cellovate GmbH, the BMS spin-out of PEM Aachen GmbH, and VersaPowr AS, a specialist in power conversion and energy management systems, as well as a newly signed strategic partnership with Farasis Energy to co-develop next-generation battery technologies and energy storage products. In the podcast, Wolf discusses WLF Energy’s strategy of importing battery cells from China for near-term deployments while localizing BMS and EMS development in Europe — a model he argues is the fastest path to affordable, sovereign energy infrastructure on the continent. One prediction, one event, one highlight — every quarter Each episode follows a three-part structure: a recap of the most important developments from the previous quarter, a top-three summary of the defining moments, and an in-depth conversation with a high-profile guest — always recorded live at an industry event. The episodes close with a forward look: one prediction, one key event, and one highlight to watch over the coming quarter. Battery Matters is available now on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. New episodes are planned quarterly, with the potential for more frequent releases depending on audience response.