On 15 November 2021, on behalf of the Saarland Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour, Energy and Transport (MWAEV) and the cooperation partners IHK Saarland and autoregion e. V., the event ” Traction Battery: From Manufacturing to Recycling” from the series “Car of the Future” took place. From 4:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., interested parties were able to follow via live stream how various players in the industry look at battery technology from materials to manufacturing processes to recycling.
As part of the Robotix-Academy, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Matthias Vette-Steinkamp from the Environmental Campus Birkenfeld (UCB) gave a presentation on the topic of Dismantling high-voltage batteries as an essential element of the product cycle. Other speakers on battery technology were Maxim Hantsch-Kramskoj, Vice President Sales & Marketing of SVOLT Energy Technology (Europe) GmbH and Andreas Ehre, Managing Director of CTC advanced GmbH.
State Secretary Jürgen Barke began by pointing out that the automotive industry is facing what is probably the greatest transformation in its history: from the fossil combustion engine to modern climate-neutral drive technologies. In this context, the focus is particularly on electromobility. Electric vehicles emit significantly less CO2 than vehicles with combustion engines, especially when combined with regeneratively generated electricity. However, powerful and ecologically sustainable battery technology is essential for this.
In the concluding discussion, in which State Secretary Jürgen Barke, Armin Gehl (Managing Director of autoregion e.V.) and Timo Ahr (Head of the IG Metall Transformation Workshop) took part, as well as the three regional speakers, the importance of recycling was once again emphasised. If the requirements are met here, modern battery technologies can be the basis for new value chains, not only in Saarland but far beyond the borders of the Greater Region.