Current status of battery research and the role of battery storage in mobile and stationary applications in the future energy system

Tuesday, June 21, 2022, 4:00 p.m., Mainz

 

Prof. Sauer will give a public lecture as part of the Physics Colloquium at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz.

The net CO₂ emissions in Germany are to be reduced to zero by 2045. Other countries have committed to similar targets to protect the climate. The mobility sector accounts for around 20% of total emissions in Germany and, unlike most other sectors, has not seen any significant reductions since 1990. In addition to efforts to reduce the volume of traffic, e.g. by shifting from cars to rail, public transport or bicycles, electric drive concepts are a technically realistic option that is now also being pursued vigorously by the automotive industry worldwide. In passenger cars, the concept of the battery-electric vehicle is currently gaining acceptance worldwide.
Accordingly, the question is what the state of battery technology is, what material systems are currently being used and will be in the foreseeable future, what the safety of the batteries is and what the availability of raw materials is.
At the same time, the need for storage is also increasing in the electricity system in order to homogenize for the highly fluctuating electricity generation from wind power and photovoltaic plants. Here, too, battery storage will be used on a large scale, but will have to meet different requirements than in the mobility sector.
Also discussed will be the prospects for battery technologies that are not yet in widespread commercial use today and the role of hydrogen and its derivatives in the mobility sector.