The struggle for European batteries: ‘Time for us to become the copycats’

This article was last updated on February 27, 2025

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The struggle for European batteries: ‘Time for us to become the copycats’

European industry is having a hard time. Yesterday, the European Commission presented a plan to change this and to give a pendulum to innovations: the Clean Industrial Deal. The battery industry is also considered.

Why is Europe unable to make batteries yourself and how should it be?

Children’s shoes

Remember that Europe has just started, experts underline. A large part of Northvolts batteries was initially so bad that they had to go directly to the recycling department. And that is not surprising, says economist Fredrik Erixons, founder of the European Center for International Political Economics in Brussels.

“Large Chinese manufacturers started much earlier. They have had to make enormous adjustments over the years and in the meantime have been able to beat the competition.”

In China, Japan and South Korea, companies have been working for decades to make batteries on an increasingly efficient scale. In Japan, Sony’s Walkman, released in 1979, was the catalyst for the battery industry. In China it started with electric bicycles – they also needed batteries.

The knowledge gained was used for new types of batteries. From the Walkman to the electric car.

The government determines

A disadvantage for Europe is that energy is relatively expensive, which makes the production of batteries more expensive. “Chinese and American governments give more targeted subsidies to battery companies,” says Vasileios Rizos, researcher Circular Economy at the Center for European Policy Studies in Brussels. “The American Inflation Reduction Act of former President Biden has given a boost to battery factories in the US.”

China is known for its government support to various sectors, including battery makers. Rizos: “This makes it very difficult for European battery makers to compete, because our batteries are becoming more expensive than Chinese and American variants.”

Another factor is that China is a huge internal market. If the government decides that traditional petrol cars are out of the question in 2035, then companies, researchers and consumers adjust their behavior accordingly. The result is that Most electric cars are sold in China.

How can a European battery sector be raised? According to many economists, it is important that the EU sticks to the ambitious sustainability goals. Lower ambitions lead to less trust and investments in a modern, clean battery sector. “In the long term, it is both ecologically and economically harmful to make batteries without an eye for nature and people,” says Rizos.

Another thing that, according to the experts, must happen: Throw Money at the Problem. In other words: invest a lot of money. The beginning has been made: the European Investment Bank is going with EU funds Invest 3 billion euros In European car batteries.

European companies must accept that manufacturers in Asia are further and take advantage of it, says Amrish Ritu, energy consultant and affiliated with the HCSS think tank in The Hague. “Why can’t we become the copycats of China and Japan? Need companies to come and produce with us – what they did so smart in the 80s.”

This is already happening, but according to Ritoe it should be better. “Set clear conditions from the EU: that foreign companies must have a certain share of European suppliers, that they must train Europeans in running factories and that intellectual property rights are shared with European partners.”