Cambridge EnerTech’s

Advances in Automotive Battery Applications

Optimizing High-Performance Batteries for EVs

March 24 - 25, 2026 ALL TIMES EDT



With exploding global EV demand driving innovation that will accelerate R&D in advanced lithium batteries for automotive applications, this conference will address the critical issues in application-driven development from design to systems as barriers are overcome to bring products to market as well as improve the capabilities of existing products. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from the key players from around the globe on how they are finding success in conquering the challenges of commercialization.

Monday, March 23

7:00 amRegistration Open and Morning Coffee

4:45 pmClose of Day

Tuesday, March 24

7:00 amRegistration Open and Morning Coffee

8:05 amOrganizer's Remarks

Craig Wohlers, General Manager, Cambridge EnerTech

OEM APPLICATION-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT

8:10 am

Chairperson's Remarks

Kevin Konecky, Vice President, Battery Systems Engineering, Spiro

8:15 am

Voltage-Based Degradation Behavior of NMC-Gr/SiO Cells for SOH-SOC Prediction and Operation Control

Bharat Gattu, Senior Researcher, Technology Planning & Research, Nissan Tech Center North America

Reliable LIB SOC/SOH prediction is essential for optimizing the LIB usage and operation using onboard controls. However, with the advances and changes in cell material chemistry, the prediction models develop new issues due to additional phenomenon and reactions which evolve. Commercial NMC-Gr/SiO cells were tested at different voltage and SOC ranges and a degradation mapping was developed. Gradual degradation behavior and unusual degradation behavior was studied using data analysis and cell internal resistance mapping. Additionally, data fitting was used to develop parameters for gradual degradation behavior as a means to predict the cell capacity degradation.

8:45 am

In a Mission to Democratize Decarbonized Mobility: Critical Role of Battery Chemistry

Mohamed Taggougui, Expert Leader, Battery Cell, Ampere, part of the Renault Group

The battery accounts for 30% to 50% of the electric vehicle cost. And 75% of that battery value is the chemistry. It is imperative to reduce the cost of the chemistry to make EV accessible to everyone in Europe. At Ampere, we have a plan to reduce the battery cost by 40%. We will be halfway in 2026, and we will get there by late 2028 with our next generation battery chemistries and architecture. In this talk I will share with you at high level what we are doing at Ampere, from a battery chemistry perspective, to reduce the cost of electric cars.

9:15 am

Solid-State Battery Commercialization: Status and Challenges

Alvaro Masias, Supervisor, Cell Technology Research, Ford Motor Company

Solid state batteries garner a large amount of attention as the future of next-generation battery chemistries and as a result it can be difficult to separate hype from reality in this important technology. This talk will discuss the status of solid state battery commercialization, important challenges remaining, and technology needs from an automotive OEM perspective.

9:45 amGrand Opening Refreshment Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing

10:30 am Accelerating Battery Cell Innovation Through Conductive and Dielectric Coating Expertise

Janel Ruhlman, Senior Application Engineer, Battery Applications, Henkel - Madison Heights, MI

As electric vehicle (EV) demand evolves amid changing market dynamics, battery manufacturers are reimagining how to scale innovation efficiently and sustainably. Henkel’s conductive and dielectric coating labs at its Global Center of Excellence in Madison Heights, Michigan, offer application expertise and advanced testing to support these goals. This session highlights how Henkel’s coating technologies enhance conductivity, insulation, thermal management, reliability, and scalable manufacturability.

11:00 am

The Role of Structure in Advanced Battery Materials and Applications

Tobias Glossmann, Principal Systems Engineer, HV Battery Research and Test Lab, Mercedes-Benz Research and Development North America

As advanced materials enable more efficient applications, understanding their structure is paramount. However, the detailed structure of battery materials, for example, often remains unclear despite commercial success. This talk will address key issues related to electrolytes, interfaces, electrodes, and active materials. It will emphasize the need to leverage structural insights to achieve high performance at a lower cost.

11:30 am

Materials Progress and Needs for Advanced Battery Technologies

Rana Mohtadi, PhD, Senior Principal Scientist, Materials Research, Toyota Research Institute of North America

Solid-state electrolyte SSE materials hold the key to enabling highly efficient solid-state battery technologies. Thus, the demonstration of SSEs capable of meeting the performance metrics demanded is of paramount importance. Herein, we will provide an update related to progresses being made in the area of SSE material development.

12:00 pm

USABC Battery Development Program Overview

Meng Jiang, PhD, Staff Researcher, R&D, General Motors Company

The United States Advanced Battery Consortium LLC (USABC), a subsidiary of USCAR, is a collaborative research organization comprised of technical personnel from Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis. USABC has been pursuing advanced energy storage technologies for electrified vehicles for over 30 years. This talk will highlight recent updates to USABC’s long term battery development targets and provide an overview of expected upcoming funding opportunities for US-based battery suppliers.

12:30 pmNetworking Luncheon

1:15 pmDessert Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing

OEM APPLICATION-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT

1:45 pm

Chairperson's Remarks

Tobias Glossmann, Principal Systems Engineer, HV Battery Research and Test Lab, Mercedes-Benz Research and Development North America

1:50 pm

FEATURED PRESENTATION: Beyond LFP for EV: Where We Might be Going

Oliver Gross, MASc, Senior Fellow—Electrified Energy Technology, Stellantis

Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) offers safety, longevity, and cost benefits for EV batteries, yet faces constraints in energy density, rate performance, and supply chain accessibility, currently compensated by use of Ni-dominant cathode chemistries. This talk presents low-cost strategies to enhance LFP for automotive use, including material and system-level innovations. It also explores emerging alternatives—lithium-sulfur (Li-S) and sodium-ion (Na-ion)—that promise scalable, sustainable energy storage solutions for next-generation EV platforms.

ADVANCED BATTERY R&D FOR AUTOMOTIVE APPLICATIONS

2:20 pm

Solid-State Batteries Unplugged: Mapping the Future and Tackling Today’s Challenges

Varnika Agarwal, Senior Research Analyst, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence

The battery market saw a deployment of around 1.7 TWh in 2025. Battery evolution is occurring in many different directions, with each avenue viewed as ‘the next big thing.’ Developments include advancements in LFP chemistry with LMFP, the use of silicon anodes, sodium ion or the emergence of ultra-fast charging technologies. However, solid-state batteries have gained interest for over a decade now.The session will look to address several key questions and will give a broad overview of the market dynamics and how we expect the market to evolve in terms of and next generation battery technologies. 

2:40 pm

Industrializing Solid-State Batteries: Ensurge’s Roadmap to Market Leadership

Asma Sharafi, Chief Technology Office, Ensurge MicroPower

Solid-state batteries promise safer, higher-performance, and longer-lasting energy storage—but scaling them from lab innovation to mass production remains the industry’s greatest challenge. At Ensurge Micropower, we are addressing this challenge head-on with ultra-thin, flexible solid-state lithium batteries engineered for next-generation applications. By replacing flammable liquid electrolytes with solid conductors, our technology delivers breakthroughs in safety and form factor, unlocking new possibilities for wearables, IoT, and beyond.This session will explore Ensurge’s roadmap for industrializing solid-state technology—integrating material science, advanced cell engineering, and high-volume manufacturing to move from concept to commercialization. We will discuss how to build a repeatable business model, secure external validation, and drive adoption across global markets. Ensurge is not just innovating battery chemistry; we are creating scalable solutions that redefine energy storage and set the stage for a future powered by solid-state technology.

3:00 pm

Advanced Battery Modeling and Data Analysis

Javier Gazzarri, PhD, Consulting Application Engineer, Application Engineering, MathWorks

This talk focuses on two new functionalities in the MathWorks ecosystem - battery electrochemical modeling and impedance spectroscopy data analysis. The former extends the capabilities of Simulink with physics-based models like P2D and SPM, enabling advanced BMS features such as anode overpotential virtual sensing for fast charging without Li plating. The latter applies MATLAB optimization functionality to generalize the workflow of EIS spectra fitting.

3:20 pmRefreshment Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing

PLENARY KEYNOTE

3:50 pm Shep Wolsky Battery Innovator of the Year Award Presentation and

Chairperson's Remarks

Craig Wohlers, General Manager, Cambridge EnerTech

3:55 pm

LFP Cells Are Boring—Why Should I Care?

Jeff Dahn, FRSC, PhD, Professor of Physics and Atmospheric Science & NSERC/Tesla Canada Industrial Research Chair, Dalhousie University

LFP Li-ion cells are now the most common cells in energy storage products and EVs.  They are inexpensive and since they are relatively safe, they can be made in large-Ah-capacity cells, reducing cost and complexity in battery modules and packs. Even though they are not “sexy,” boring old LFP will dominate in many applications for years to come. However, the high-temperature lifetime of LFP cells is poor, which means they require temperature control in many applications to attain an acceptable lifetime. I will explain why the high-temperature lifetime is poor and discuss some strategies to improve it. I will explain how to make LFP cells exciting, including strategies to dramatically increase their energy density.

4:15 pm

Delivering Advanced Battery Technologies for EV Range and Value

George Cintra, Director, Battery R&D, General Motors

General Motors is building an electrification powerhouse, having launched a dozen EVs into the market, ranging from the Equinox EV to the Cadillac Escalade IQ. General Motors is pioneering next-generation battery and manufacturing technologies, such as prismatic cells with LMR cathodes. Mr. Cintra will provide an update on GM’s battery research & development activities, tools and innovations to deliver longer range, lower costs, and faster charging batteries for EV customers.

4:35 pm

Today’s EV Reality and the Path Forward

Tim DeBastos, Managing Director, North American Battery Development, LG Energy Solution

LG Energy Solution is the leading lithium-ion battery manufacturer, working with the top OEMs globally in transforming the automobile industry. The market for EVs is expanding rapidly, driven by both consumer demand and regulatory incentives. In North America, there are unprecedented levels of investment to support EVs, by both OEMs and battery manufacturers. This presentation will discuss market growth projections, announced expansion plans, and the challenges ahead.

4:55 pm

Panasonic Energy: Driving Battery Technology Innovation for Sustainable Growth

Masato Fujikawa, Director, Energy R&D Center, Panasonic Energy Co., Ltd.

Panasonic Energy has been at the forefront of battery technology development, driving the growth of BEVs and AI. To meet increasing market demand, we are expanding our production capacity in North America and strengthening strategic partnerships. These initiatives will contribute both to the realization of a sustainable society and to our business growth. This presentation will highlight the innovative activities within our battery business from a technological perspective.

5:15 pm

New Science Frontiers in Battery Technologies

Shirley Meng, PhD, The Liew Family Professor, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, The University of Chicago

At Energy Storage Research Alliance (ESRA), an Energy Innovation Hub funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, we focus on energy storage materials beyond lithium ion. ESRA aims to enable transformative discoveries in sodium electrochemistry, an abundant and sustainable energy solution, we hope to lay the scientific foundations for breakthroughs in energy storage technologies enabled by sodium chemistry and train the next-generation battery workforce to ensure U.S. scientific and economic leadership. In this talk, I will discuss a few new perspectives for energy storage materials including new solvation architecture designs for liquid electrolytes and new superionic conductors in soft or hard materials. With recent advances in photon and electron characterization tools and computational methods, we can explore ionic mobility, charge transfer and ion matter interactions in electrochemical system in operando. Let us leverage the modern machine learning and artificial intelligence, powered by our materials acceleration platform and correlative characterization to enable the discovery of new phenomena in the next frontiers of battery technologies.

5:35 pmReception in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing

6:35 pmClose of Day

Wednesday, March 25

7:30 amRegistration Open and Morning Coffee

ADVANCED BATTERY R&D FOR AUTOMOTIVE APPLICATIONS

7:55 am

Chairperson's Remarks

Michael Sanders, Senior Advisor, Energy, Avicenne Energy

8:00 am OEM Battery Strategy: Competing when Traditional Approaches No Longer Work

Tal Sholklapper, CEO & Co Founder, Voltaiq Inc.

OEMs today are squeezed from all sides: shifting EV policies, China’s cost dominance, and a flood of cheap cells driving reliability issues. To compete, OEMs can’t afford slow, traditional serial development—continuous, agile, parallelized processes and hyper-efficient supply chains are now table stakes. Meanwhile, advanced analytics and AI promise big results, but mostly fail to deliver ROI. This talk will show how the right data foundations deliver real production wins to lower costs, manage risk, and accelerate product release cycles with analytics that actually work.

8:30 am

Insights into Gas Generation in Battery Cells during Thermal Abuse

Vamakshi Yadav, Researcher, General Motors

Gas detection during thermal runaway in lithium-ion batteries offers a promising method for early detection and safety assessment. Although heat-generating reactions have been extensively studied using techniques like accelerating rate calorimetry (ARC) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), correlating these reactions with gas emissions remains challenging. This talk will focus on real-time analysis of gas species generated within battery cells leading up to thermal runaway.

9:00 am

Current Industry Trends in Performance and Opportunities in Next-Generation Battery Systems

Kevin Konecky, Vice President, Battery Systems Engineering, Spiro

Battery systems have evolved into complex assemblies where the battery cell, while central, is only part of a larger integrated architecture. Battery systems incorporate mechanical structure, thermal management, and advanced BMS, requiring robust integration to deliver safety, reliability, and performance. This presentation will discuss how each subsystem contributes to the overall battery system performance. We will examine current trends, emerging trends, technological advancements, and opportunities for innovation in next-generation systems.

9:30 am Scaling Ultra-Thin Lithium Metal Films for Next-Generation Automotive Batteries

Subra Herle, CTO, Elevated Materials

Ultra-thin lithium metal films enable higher energy density batteries but have been difficult to manufacture at scale. Elevated Materials’ vacuum-deposited, in-situ passivated lithium films provide improved surface quality and uniformity, enabling scalable lithium metal and prelithiated anode architectures for next-generation automotive batteries, defense, drones, and consumer applications.

9:45 am baSiC to ASIC: Industrializing ASIC-Driven Multilevel Batteries for Series Production

Niclas Lehnert, CEO, Pulsetrain GmbH

Pulsetrain is pioneering the next generation of powertrains. We’re launching our next major milestone on the roadmap to an automotive-grade ASIC—enabling safer low-voltage states, higher efficiency, built-in redundancy, and longer battery life, while reducing system complexity for charging and traction across multiple mobility use cases.

10:00 am The Next Generation Unmanned Battery Testing Solution

KEZHEN LIU, Product Manager, Product Development , SHENZHEN SINEXCEL RE EQUIPMENT CO LTD

The battery testing solution has upgraded laboratory testing to be unmanned, intelligent and efficient through an intelligent test management system, a logistics dispatch system and distributed charge-discharge machines. Compared with traditional equipment, the unmanned testing solution increases OEE from 70% to 95%, reduces equipment cable cost by 30%, cuts power module configuration cost by 25%, decreases plant area by 70%, saves electric energy by more than 30% and reduces manpower by 70%.

10:15 amCoffee Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing (Sponsorship Opportunity Available)

11:05 am Silicon-Anode Platform Integration Achieving Enhanced Power and Capability

Ionel Stefan, CTO, R&D, Amprius Technologies

Amprius Technologies delivers the industry’s most advanced silicon-anode lithium-ion batteries, achieving energy and power levels previously unattainable with conventional graphite cells. The company’s SiCore® platform combines ultra-high-energy designs reaching 450 Wh/kg with balanced high-power variants delivering 300 Wh/kg at 10C, enabling unmatched versatility across demanding applications. These cells pair breakthrough energy density with fast-charge capability, and high cycle life, unlocking new possibilities for aerospace, defense, and high-performance mobility systems. Supporting our growing customer base by leveraging our gigawatt-scale manufacturing partners around the globe, Amprius is redefining the boundaries of energy density, mission endurance, and system efficiency for next-generation power solutions.

11:35 am PANEL DISCUSSION:

What you see is all there is?Better decisions start with Batemo Insights!

Michael Schoenleber, Co Founder & CTO, Batemo GmbH

Decision‑making often suffers from a limited view of the market - what you see is all there is.

Batemo Insights expands that view by providing a comprehensive, cross‑segment overview of the global battery cell landscape. The platform reveals technologies, trends, competitors, and design concepts that remain invisible when focusing only on one’s own market segment. By broadening perspective beyond internal experience and familiar suppliers, Batemo Insights enables faster technology scouting, stronger strategic positioning, and more informed decisions about where the battery market is heading.

Better decisions begin with seeing more - Better decisions start with Batemo Insights!

11:50 am Turning Solid State Hype into Automotive Reality 

Alex Yu, CTO, Factorial Energy

The EV battery industry is entering a new phase where chemistry breakthroughs and commercialization advance together. Factorial Energy’s proprietary solid-state batteries are proven with top-tier OEMs in lab and on-road. This talk highlights how Factorial is simultaneously advancing technology and scaling manufacturing to meet stringent automotive requirements including validated performance, safety testing, OEM milestones, and production readiness, showing how engineering rigor and manufacturing discipline are accelerating the path to high-volume deployment.

12:05 pm

The Rechargeable Battery Market 2026-2035, Significant Changes in North America in Applications and Emerging Technology

Michael Sanders, Senior Advisor, Energy, Avicenne Energy

Avicenne Energy will be presenting the major changes in electrification in ever expanding applications that will drive broader demand than just EV and emerging technologies that are becoming more available.  Automotive has certainly led the market expansion but now heavy duty truck and bus, off-road and construction equipment, ESS and data centers are driving broader applications and a much expanded value chain. Presentation will be focused on North America, but also highlight how the regions value chain is structured vs. other regions.  Forecasts will cover both global and North America perspectives.

12:35 pmNetworking Luncheon (Sponsorship Opportunity Available)

1:20 pmDessert Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing (Sponsorship Opportunity Available)

1:50 pmClose of Conference Track





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