- Leading companies will be participating in this meeting organised by the sector’s association of manufacturers
- It is scheduled to take place in Brussels from 4 to 6 June
IK4-IKERLAN is participating in the Eurobat AGM & Forum 2014, the main annual meeting organised by the association of battery manufacturers of Europe, and which will be held in Brussels from 4 to 6 June. At this event, in which the sector's leading companies will be participating, the Basque R&D centre will be showcasing its capabilities as a cutting-edge player in research into technologies and development of solutions for the field of electricity storage.
IK4-IKERLAN, which will be participating for the first time in this event, will be the only R&D centre present. The centre will be presenting its capabilities in the area of solutions for battery-based electrical energy storage, one of its strengths. “Through our research we develop cutting-edge technology and then we transfer this knowledge to companies; that will enable us to contribute towards improving their competitiveness," as the researcher Igor Villarreal outlined.
In recent years, IK4-IKERLAN has been collaborating with leading companies in the development of 20 new products relating to electricity storage and power electronics. At this important forum the centre will be taking advantage of its experience in this field to highlight some cases of success in its activity both with respect to its work for companies and its research work.
In its relations with companies feature the Liftion and AEC projects. The former was carried out in collaboration with the Grupo Orona and was used to develop an energy storage system for lifts; it is based on lithium-ion batteries and enables the contracted power to be reduced.
In the case of AEC, a project carried out in collaboration with the company Urban Art, IK4-IKERLAN participated in the development of a series-hybrid bus based on a multifuel-combustion engine (CNG, LPG or diesel) and an ultracapacitor bank to store electrical energy. The work of the Basque R&D centre involved designing and developing the vehicle's traction unit as well as its energy control strategy.
As regards the European research projects being led by IK4-IKERLAN, two will be featured: REEMAIN, devoted to improving the energy efficiency of industry through the intelligent deployment of renewable energies, resource saving strategies and an advanced industrial energy model; and Batteries 2020, which is seeking to improve the batteries destined for electric vehicles and prepare these batteries for a second lease of life as accumulators for renewable energy facilities.
The paper
The R&D centre will be giving a paper explaining its experience in working with battery component manufacturers and companies that fit battery-based storage systems into their final developments.
In the first case, IK4-IKERLAN will be highlighting the knowledge it has on the economic and technical requirements of the various applications. “We have our own methodology to guarantee the dependability of the systems,” explained Villarreal. What is more, the centre’s knowledge of the market enables it to advise its customers as to which applications are of greater commercial interest.
In the second case, the IK4-IKERLAN centre will be explaining its capability in integrating the various components into the batteries by carrying out, in addition, an advanced analysis of their dependability, safety and behaviour in a range of applications, and of their useful service life. “We are capable of integrating anything from a storage cell to a battery system for a train or lift; this enables us to work for companies of very different sizes and in very different fields,” affirmed the researcher.
Villarreal is hoping that IK4-IKERLAN’s presence at the Eurobat AGM & Forum 2014 will help the centre to establish relations with other players in the sector. “What we have ahead of us is a tremendous opportunity to make ourselves known among cutting-edge companies in this field, and also to find out what their challenges and needs are," he said.
About the Eurobat AGM & Forum 2014
The meeting being organised in Brussels by Eurobat, the European association of battery manufacturers, will help to put suppliers, customers and policy decision makers relating to the sector in contact with each other. Furthermore, the symposium will be dealing with three main hubs: firstly, various experts will be explaining their points of view on the technologies that need to be developed to implement more efficient batteries in the automotive sector; secondly, the steps that have to be taken within the European battery sector to ensure the competitiveness of the continent's power sector and industry will be discussed; and finally, the progress that is being made in the collection and recycling of different technologies will be covered.
The sessions will have the participation of members of leading companies like the car manufacturer Volkswagen and battery manufacturers like the Umicore and Saft groups, as well as representatives of organisations like Eurelectric, the Union of the Electricity Industry, and ACEA, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association. There will also be a presence of political representatives like Jean-Marie Bemtgen, Policy Officer of the Research and Technologies Coordination Unit for Energy of the European Commission’s General Directorate for Energy and Transport.
About Eurobat
Eurobat is Europe’s most important association of electrical battery manufacturers. Its task is to promote the interests of manufacturers in this field among their customers and before the institutions. This body comprises 40 member companies accounting for 85% of the companies in the sector across the continent. Eurobat is the body that represents the European automotive and battery industries before the European institutions and also before the governments of the member states.