US Department of Energy (DoE) is partnering with automaker Stellantis on the Battery Workforce Challenge, a program aimed at colleges, vocational schools and other educational institutions, to boost the worker pool and research and development of electric vehicle (EV) batteries. The three-year competition will include a battery design and development student competition aimed at universities and vocational schools from across North America. The Argonne National Laboratory will function as the government’s partner, working alongside Stellantis, helping to team with universities, as well as community colleges and vocational training.
“One of our core objectives is, as we grow EVs, we want to make sure we have a secure, solid, domestic supply base. And that’s a combination of workers, as well as the factories and materials,” said Michael Berube, deputy assistant secretary for sustainable transportation at the U.S. Department of Energy.
The Battery Challenge will place a premium on designs and other technologies which take into consideration the end-of-life process for batteries and designing them with recycling in mind. The Argonne National Laboratory developed the EverBatt model, a battery life cycle tool that allows researchers to estimate the cost and environmental impacts along each stage of the battery supply chain. The model evaluates the environmental impact of battery production from virgin materials as the benchmark.
Stellantis is aiming for 100% zero-emission sales in Europe and 50% in the United States by the end of the decade. The growth in the EV battery market is set to accelerate growth in other residual markets like battery recycling, where the recycling of previous generation batteries will make up 40% to 50% of the supply chain of raw materials going into new batteries. The Battery Challenge incentivizes new educational efforts to make the United States a leader in EV batteries, with a secure, solid, domestic supply base of workers, factories, and materials.
Source: govtech.com