169. 2025 State of play in the battery universe - Feb25

2024 has been another exceptional year for the battery industry. We have invited Aaron Wade to discuss the various technological and economic aspects of this rapidly expanding universe. Aaron is a rising star in the battery world. Not only is a key member of the Volta Foundation, but he is also Business Development Lead at Gaussion, a U.K. start up that improves charging capacities in batteries.
The Volta Foundation just released its monumental 516 pages report, covering industry, technology, research, government policy, standards. It is a must read for anybody in the industry.
Link to the Volta Foundation report: https://volta.foundation/battery-report-2024

With Aaron, we talk about the pivotal role of China, the evolution of the supply chain (do we have enough minerals? Spoiler Alert: Yes), the chemistries, the form factors, recycling and second life. We discuss industry consolidation among the leading suppliers. We dive into the rise of LFP, the divergence between EV and ESS industries, and the expected evolutions of technologies (sodium ion, solid state, semi solid state), Finally we debate about the prices of cells, packs and systems.
A great conversation to assess the current state of play in this ultra dynamic sector.
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Beside the Volta Foundation, the 2 must read reports which came out a few weeks ago

• Ember when it comes to Electricity European Electricity Review 2025
• Nat Bullard when it comes to Climate and Decarbonisation

https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/european-electricity-review-2025/https://www.nathanielbullard.com/presentations


Aaron Wade is the Business Development Lead for Gaussion, enhancing battery performance through magneto-enhancement, and a project director for the Volta Foundation. He was previously the head of battery costs at CRU, helping clients understand the ever changing world of battery cost and technology. Aaron has a PhD from University College London, researching the degradation of battery chemistries using X-ray imaging.  Gaussion develop magnetic-enhancement components as a bolt-on for all batteries, unlocking faster charging and longer lifetimes. The solution is chemistry and form factor agnostic, and can result in up to 6x faster charging and up to 8x longer lifetimes.