2020 Archived Content
OVERVIEW | DOWNLOAD BROCHURE | PLENARY KEYNOTES | BREAKOUT DISCUSSIONS | SPEAKERS | TUTORIALS

Interactive Breakout Discussion Groups*

Over 13 parallel breakout discussion groups take place during the main conference program on Tuesday and Thursday. The breakouts are informal, moderated discussions with brainstorming and interactive problem solving, allowing participants from diverse backgrounds to exchange ideas and experiences and develop future collaborations around a focused topic. Each topic is led by a moderator who ensures focused conversation around the key issues of that topic. Attendees choose to join a specific group. Below is a list of the breakout discussion topics that will be offered on Tuesday, July 28 and Thursday, July 30.

TUESDAY, July 28 ● 4:45 - 5:45 PM

BREAKOUT 1: Battery Raw Materials Supply Chain

Moderator: Rob Privette, Business Development Manager, North America, Umicore

  • Electrode raw material (e.g., Gr, Co, Ni, Li, Mn) sourcing
  • Meeting demand with available supply
  • End-of-life battery recycling

BREAKOUT 2: Safety for Manufacturing

Moderator: Jody Leber, Senior Technologist, Energy Storage, CSA Group

  • How manufacturers can prepare to meet the new IEC 62133-2 requirements without impacting delivery
  • How these regulations ensure safety
  • How this affects international trade

BREAKOUT 3: Solid-State Batteries – Key Technology Approaches & Time-to-Market

Moderator: Pirmin Ulmann, PhD, Co-Founder and CEO, b-science.net

  • Time-to-market in electronics, medical devices and EVs: Is safety or energy density the driving force?
  • Advantages and disadvantages of solid electrolytes: oxides, sulfides, phosphates, polymers, combinations
  • Power performance in EVs: Do solid-state batteries provide sufficient power? Will they be combined with supercapacitors?

BREAKOUT 4: Finding the Gaps That Have Yet to Be Filled in an Efficient Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Infrastructure

Moderator: Jeff Spangenberger, Materials Recycling R&D Program Lead, Argonne National Laboratory

  • What are the top issues that are holding back the battery recycling industry?
  • How can collection of consumer electronics be increased?
  • Will manufacturers use recycled battery materials and how are they qualified?
  • What policy would help or hurt the battery recycling industry?
  • How can transportation costs be reduced?

BREAKOUT 5: Small Batteries, Big Potential? The Future of Rechargeable Coin Cells and Pin Cells

Moderator: John Wozniak, PhD, President, Energy Storage and Power Consulting, Core Quality International, Ltd.

  • What are the market trends for coin cells and pin cells?
  • What companies have found ways around the Varta coin cell patents?
  • Is there profitability in developing these cells?
  • What are the challenges associated with the manufacturing of these cells?
  • What are the risks in using these small cells in wearable products?

BREAKOUT 6: Surviving the Valley of Death – Transitioning New Battery Technologies from R&D to Manufacturable, Commercially Viable Products

Moderator: James Kaschmitter, CEO, SpectraPower

  • How do we define “manufacturable” or “commercially viable”?
  • What attributes are important for a new battery technology to be commercially viable?
  • What do battery manufacturers want?
  • How can a developer of a new battery technology anticipate these requirements, including Quality Assurance requirements?
  • What patent strategies should the developer employ during development?

BREAKOUT 7: Approach to Failure Modes and Effects Analysis

Moderator: Judith Jeevarajan, PhD, Research Director, Electrochemical Safety, Underwriters Laboratories, Inc.

  • Approaches to hazard analysis and risk assessment (FTA, FMEA, fish bone, bow-tie, etc.)
  • Identification of hazards and risk
  • Determination of probability and severity of risk
  • Is modeling a good approach to hazard analysis and risk assessment?
  • Mitigation of risks to reduce the severity and probability of hazards

THURSDAY, July 30 ● 2:30 - 3:30 PM 

BREAKOUT 1: Lithium-Ion versus Competing Alternative Battery Technologies

Moderator: Matthias Vetter, PhD, Department Head, Electrical Energy Storage, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE

  • Demand for battery storage and international market developments, e.g., behind-the-meter, before-the-meter, grid-scale
  • Which market segments are dominated already and will be dominated in the future by lithium-ion?
  • Which market segments will offer chances for NaS, NaNiCl, redox-flow, advanced lead-acid, etc.?
  • TCO versus pure capex considerations

BREAKOUT 2: Opportunities for Zinc-Based Aqueous Flow Batteries

Moderator: Nian Liu, PhD, Assistant Professor, School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

  • What is the biggest advantage of zinc-based aqueous batteries compared to other battery systems?
  • What are the most foreseeable markets of zinc-based aqueous batteries?
  • What are the most urgent technological barriers for zinc-based aqueous batteries?
  • Is there anything we can learn from lithium-ion batteries to improve zinc-based batteries?

BREAKOUT 3: Li-Ion NMC Fast Charging New Cells for E-Mobility

Moderator: Shmuel De-Leon, CEO, Shmuel De-Leon Energy, Ltd.

  • The needs for fast charging for E-Mobility
  • Current solution in the market
  • New fast charging Li-ion NMC cells under development

BREAKOUT 4: Interface Issues in Solid-State Batteries

Moderator: Alexis Laforgue, PhD, Research Officer, Materials for Energy Technologies, Automotive & Surface Transportation Research, National Research Council of Canada

  • Issues at the lithium metal/electrolyte interface
  • Issues at the cathode/electrolyte interface
  • Methods to properly investigate interfacial issues

BREAKOUT 5: Battery Degradation and Safety

Moderator: Craig Arnold, PhD, Director, Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials, Princeton University

  • How can local non-uniformities in battery construction and mechanical stress lead to accelerated decay and safety concerns?
  • What are the mechanisms that lead to the accelerated decay?
  • What are methods of mitigating the effects in a real system?

BREAKOUT 6: What the Next Generation of Energy Storage Product Should Look Like

Moderator: Jason Zhang, MS, Project Manager, Energy Storage, BYD America

  • EV + storage
  • Energy storage systems using repurposed/retired batteries from EV
  • More integration or more simplicity

*Included in Best Value Registration and Seminar Only Registrations