Development of reporting methodologies - Batteries Europe

The launch of the Batteries Europe technology platform on June 25, 2019 established the setting for the creation of a Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) on batteries. The SRA aims at providing a clear framework for European battery research and propose future actions required to continue supporting and promoting both competitiveness and sustainability in the European battery industry through research. In this context, a global knowledge and understanding of the existing battery technologies and performance is an essential requirement. However, the benchmarking and comparison of different battery technologies are greatly hampered by the lack of a common reporting methodology. To address this deficit, the WGs of the Batteries Europe, led by WG 1 “New and Emerging technologies”, have initiated the development of such common reporting methodologies guidelines. This document provides the basis for the development of homogenized performance metrics and a transparent reporting methodology, which are necessary for the reliable benchmarking of various battery chemistries. Furthermore, such performance metrics facilitates the identification of new promising materials and cell technologies whilst highlighting areas for further improvement. For a successful implementation, the suggested reporting methodology needs to be adopted by a majority of scientists and implemented in all EU funded battery-related projects for monitoring the progress beyond the state-of-the-art. In addition, the reporting guidelines could, for example, be recommended as a requirement for publications originating from the EU funding in scientific journals[1]. Editors and Board members of several high-level scientific journals are also members of several WGs within Batteries Europe. They could greatly assist in the implementation of such a recommendation. This would result in setting up the “gold standard” for scientific reports of battery chemistry developments in Europe and would set a trend for a worldwide implementation beyond Europe. Whilst this development will not have an immediate impact, it will set a best practice for results’ reporting and will reduce the occurrence of "overly optimistic" claims often occurring in the field of battery research