Serbia is well-positioned to establish a complete value chain in battery production

Europe is determined to be a climate neutral continent. In this process, the most important thing is the energy transition, in which the EU countries are leading the way. Are there any obstacles on the way from exploitation to the final selection, what does the EU-Serbia Strategic Partnership on sustainable raw materials, battery value chains and electric vehicles mean, and what are the opportunities for Serbia, were just some of the questions that were addressed during the Look Up conference experts.

Nemanja Mikać, CEO of ElevenEs, expressed optimism about Serbia’s ability to complete the entire value chain in battery production, from raw materials to electric vehicles.

“The answer is certainly complex and requires many steps, and there are many connected things that need to happen. The center of that process is high technology, batteries, and electric cars. That is only part of the story, as it is applied in many other industries as well. Serbia has the best chance outside of Asia to become a leader in the standardization of LFP technology, which accounts for half of the world’s battery production,” he said.

“The other half of the production already exists in countries like Germany, Sweden, Spain and France. LFP has just arrived and we are the first in Europe to work on this technology, and I expect it to become more and more present. When you have those two technologies, you like diesel and gasoline and they will dominate for the next 10 to 15 years,” he said.

He explained that LFP is a “new diesel” that can be developed in Serbia, and in order to achieve this, it is necessary to integrate thousands and thousands of people and companies into a common goal.

“All the time we spent on debates, we missed a part of the technological opportunity, time is passing, others are already doing it. We are trying to do it somehow with the wind. And if we succeed in this, we will take with us an additional 50 companies that will are created to do that. Of course, the key raw material for that is lithium carbonate, that is, cathode chemistry, but we need a factory that will process it into the material that is later used for batteries. That’s why we have to focus, we will shall we catch this train for the prosperity of the country?”, he said.

Source: NIN

Photo Credit: ElevenEs, Marko Cvetković