Access to fossil-free electricity. Industrial expertise. A clear strategy. Moving forwards, Sweden is well equipped to become a leading European battery nation. According to experts at RISE, we now need more testbeds, faster mining permit processes and easier routes to investment in the battery value chain.
Sweden has a favourable position on the starting grid for the European battery supply chain. Facilities for cell production, recycling, electric motor manufacturing and testing are at different stages of construction or operation. More than SEK 100 billion is being invested in various parts of the country.
Fifty European battery production facilities operational by 2030
The global market for battery production facilities is expected to generate EUR 250 billion come 2025. Today, the EU’s share is four percent – but within Europe, around fifty plants could be operational by 2030
“If we’re going to establish the industry in Sweden, we need all parts of the value chain. All raw materials need not come from Sweden, but all other links must be in place for us to get the products to market,” says Claes Winzell, a research and business developer at RISE.
He says that Sweden, just like burgeoning battery hub Germany or mineral-rich Finland, is not acting alone. All parts of the value chain – raw materials, refined battery materials, battery cells, etc. – will be part of a global market with products flowing in both directions.
“The major stakeholders are industrial companies, while those of us in academia, politics and government will help in various ways.”
Maciej Wysocki, a project manager at RISE, says that the public sector must be involved as a financier to reduce risks by means of loans or guarantee commitments. One example is Stena Recycling’s facility in Halmstad, which has received SEK 70 million in support from the Swedish Energy Agency.
“Sweden needs national coordination in matters such as this. Things are happening here and there, but there’s no national action plan,” says Wysocki.
What happens if no one dons the yellow jersey?
“The opportunity for organic growth is certainly still there, but that’ll take longer. And the outcome won’t be as favourable,” says Winzell.
“Right now is when the growth for the next five to ten years is established. If you can win market shares in a growing market, this tends to attract even more investments.”
“The right policies can help speed things,” says Winzell, mentioning, among other things, facilitating mining permit processes and investing in testbeds.
China and South Korea dominant, but the USA and the EU investing heavily
China and South Korea currently dominate the battery market. The USA and the EU are investing heavily to catch up on the technology side and to become as self-sufficient as possible.
Two influential reports* have been presented with proposals for enhancing Sweden’s competitiveness in the European battery value chain. The key take-homes from both reports: Invest in education. Invest in strengths.
“Today, there’s a lack of expertise in almost the entire world except Asia. Both the USA and Europe need to import skilled labour,” says Winzell.
We need to invest earlier and more directly in the strategic parts of the value chain
Different strengths at Swedish universities
According to the EBA expert group, 800,000 people in Europe need to be trained or retrained by 2025 to meet the battery industry’s needs. And these needs are found in both the private and public sectors. Specialist as well as systems knowledge will be key.
Swedish educational environments within the battery value chain include Uppsala University, Chalmers University of Technology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Luleå University of Technology. These universities have different strengths, such as within active materials, battery control systems, ore geology and process metallurgy.
Wysocki considers RISE the perfect battery partner for academia, trade and industry and government.
“At RISE, we have long aimed to be the interdisciplinary force for gathering leading-edge technologies in Sweden. Here, we can commodify needs, we can gather knowledge. It’s a case of industrialising outstanding academic research.”
“We’re among the few places in Sweden that can offer that breadth and, as an interdisciplinary institute, that can do something meaningful,” he says.
Winzell highlights RISE’s technical expertise and processes for, among other things, standardisation and verification.
“We have specialist knowledge that could prove useful in cell production, packing production and handling techniques. Looking downstream in the value chain, we also have experts in recycling technology.”
Recycled materials key to achieving goals
We will see colossal growth in batteries across society. Maximum sustainability within battery production will require so-called secondary streams of recycled materials. Without them, no circularity. The forthcoming EU battery regulation stipulates that 70 to 95 percent of the metals are to be recycled by 2030.
“While it’s not top priority today, in five to ten years, huge numbers of used batteries will be handed in at recycling facilities,” says Wysocki.
Calculations** show that batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage within the EU will need up to eighteen times more lithium and five times more cobalt to reach the 2030 climate goals. For the 2050 climate goals, the estimate is sixty times more lithium and fifteen times more cobalt.
“We need to invest earlier and more directly in the strategic parts of the value chain. These include mines, mineral processing and material production,” says Winzell.
“Here at RISE, we have a great deal of interdisciplinary systems expertise within materials, logistics, environmental impact and policy development, to name but a few areas that may prove useful in these endeavours.”
*: Fossil-free Sweden's proposal for a strategy for sustainable value chains in the battery industry was published in 2020. In autumn 2022, the Swedish Energy Agency, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and the Swedish Geological Survey presented twelve proposals to strengthen the battery value chain in four areas:
- Strengthened coordination and collaboration within government, academia and industry.
- Securing a sustainable supply of innovation-critical raw materials.
- Strengthened efforts and funds for research, innovation and business development based primarily on Swedish strengths.
- Strengthened skills supply in the ongoing electrification process.
**The EU Commission's Joint Research Centre has calculated future needs for battery metals compared to current EU supply.
