2024 Battery Show: Five Takeaways

The Battery Show 2024, held in Detroit, has gained significant prominence as one of North America's largest and most comprehensive events for advanced battery technology and EV innovations. This year's show attracted over 1,150 exhibitors, showcasing the latest advancements in battery technology, electric vehicles, and related industries. It also highlighted emerging solutions for increasing battery efficiency and reducing manufacturing costs across various sectors such as automotive, stationary and portable applications.

Both automakers and suppliers are challenged by navigating the rate of adoption of EVs by consumers, the longer-than-anticipated ramp-up of public charging infrastructure, allocating capital in a framework that doesn’t strand investments and more.

Analysts Chris Liu, Adam Ragozzino and Christie Schweinsberg from Wards Intelligence, and WardsAuto Senior Editor David Kiley attended the show and spoke on several panels. Here are their five key takeaways from this year’s conference and exhibit.

1.  The U.S. election weighs on collective business minds. The difference between a Trump administration and a Harris administration is stark.

Trump's rhetoric has been clear: more tariffs for more countries, higher tariffs for Chinese goods, fewer EV incentives and a weaker U.S. dollar. And after listening to the political analysts who took the stage at this year’s Battery Show, a Trump presidency would likely be paired with a Republican majority House and Senate. Not that he would need Congress for the tariffs; those lie within the power of the executive branch. However, undoing the Inflation Reduction Act, and any of the attendant benefits for EV growth, would require action by Congress, and a Trump 2.0 presidency is likely to have it.

Economists have said Trump's announced plans for across-the-board tariffs as well as his other industrial policies are inflationary and could lead to higher interest rates as well as a stronger, not weaker dollar.

A Harris presidency, on the other hand, is likely to continue the current Biden policies: support for electrification, EV subsidies and maintaining current tariffs on Chinese goods with the possibility of additional tariffs targeted at specific industries and products. One thing that both political parties seem united on is limiting the impact of China on the U.S. economy, especially the auto and telecommunications industries. According to Ben Steinberg from Venn Strategies and a keynote speaker at the event, current Biden appointees would be likely to stay on for continuity in a Harris administration.

The close race leaves businesses in a holding pattern until the November election.

2. Numerous suppliers are offering products aimed at improving battery power and efficiency through the use of additives.

Companies such as Ten-nine, which supplies electrolyte and electrode performance enhancements; Forge Nano, which adds specialty coatings to cathode and anode materials; and anode and cathode supplier Epsilon Advanced Materials, which uses silicon to improve graphite anode performance, had a strong presence. The effect is that traditional batteries are improving rapidly and the improved efficiency is bringing down costs as battery manufacturers can do more with less.

3. Despite being a show devoted to batteries that power electric vehicles, there was still much chatter about the government and industry needing to ease many drivers into all-electric vehicles.

There is still much talk about increasing the number of hybrids and plug-in hybrids – still partly reliant on internal-combustion-engine technology, as well as advancing alternative fuels, as strategies for reducing carbon emissions. “The universal applicability of BEVs is just not ready yet,” says ZF’s Brian Laughlin, head of external affairs, speaking on a panel to a question on the European Union’s 2035 ban on internal-combustion-engine vehicles. “You want to get to the end result of zero tailpipe emissions, and there are a number of ways that you can advance that goal – including leveraging plug-in hybrids – without making huge segments of the population angry or overtly rejecting these vehicles,” he says, pointing out the issue of weak charging infrastructure in Eastern Europe.

4. The U.S. government is putting the cart before the horse with regulations.

There is a real likelihood few if any vehicles will qualify for the $7,500 U.S. 30D federal tax incentive next year due to the aggressive, stair-stepping battery materials rules OEMs must meet, rules designed to promote a localized battery supply chain but didn’t fully consider how reliant batteries are on China-sourced materials and components. “The direction was correct, but perhaps implementation was just a little too fast, too aggressive,” says Rivian’s Chris Nevers, senior director-public policy, who says next year Rivian may not have any qualifying model for the purchase credit and expects other OEMs will be in the same boat needing more time to adjust supply. He also believes the Biden Admin.’s proposed 2027 model-year ban on Chinese software in U.S. vehicles may be unrealistic for some automakers given the 2027 model year is just 15 months away.

5. Safety is a major concern.

Fires from thermal runaway, even for solid-state batteries, remains a concern, says Michael Sanders of Avicenne Energy. Not that the number of fire incidents is huge, compared with those involving internal-combustion engines, but each fire gets extensive coverage in the news media and on social media, and consumer fears go up proportionately.

As long as lithium metal is in use, there is the potential for an unwanted reaction, says Sanders.

The rule doesn’t come into effect until July 2026 but companies like Prestone already have a product to meet the coming need. The company recently released a coolant that meets the conductivity threshold but still protects against corrosion. That’s no easy trick, says Prestone’s Tom Corrigan. The additives in traditional coolants that protect against corrosion are the same elements that increase conductivity, he says. Corrigan expects other countries will eventually follow China’s lead but may wait to see the results from China before writing any new regulations.