R-ZINC 2.0 - A successful conference for the LOLABAT project

The second edition of the European conference on Zinc rechargeable batteries was held during 3-4th May in Brussels. It was organized by our LOLABAT partner EverZinc who offered a unique opportunity to network with companies from the global zinc market.

The meeting was a success with 20 speakers, 20 posters and 75 attendees, highlighting a remarkable progress in the development and industrialization of zinc-based batteries. Since the last edition in 2019, outstanding progresses have been made in the development and industrialization of zinc-based batteries.

LOLABAT made a prominent appearance in the event by presentation of 6 posters and one oral presentation. The posters demonstrated the results obtained in LOALABAT during the first one year and half of the project. The research work on characterization and analysis of 8Ah NiZn cells for improvement of their cyclability and cost was presented via four posters by University of Cergy Pontoise, ZSW, DLR and Sunergy. The favourable results on safety and abuse tests of 100Ah NiZn cells and modules (1.25kWh) were demonstrated in a poster by ZSW, confirming the high safety and robustness of NiZn technology: no thermal runway, no explosion, no fire. The characterisations of 100Ah modules (1.25kWh) and initial preparations and tests for the future battery packs were provided in the sixth poster by the CEA.

The Scientific-Technical coordinator of LOLABAT, and Sunergy’s CEO, Dr Fabrice Fourgeot, presented LOLABAT and put in the spotlight the latest developments in the project, such as achievement of 80% increase in cyclability and 30% decrease in cost, two major KPIs of the project, leading to an estimated cost of 6 cents/kWh/cycle.  

This event was also an opportunity, not only for some of LOLABAT partners (Accurec, CYU, CEA, DLR, EverZinc, Sunergy, ZSW), present in place, to meet in person and benefit from such a precious opportunity in the pandemic time, but also for several stakeholders in Zn-based batteries domain to gather together and share ideas.