Europe’s battery sector stands at a decisive juncture, caught between real opportunity and mounting exposure to external dependencies. The Battery R&I Blueprint sets out a roadmap for the continent to build genuine leadership in battery technology — a capability now central not just to automotive, but to energy systems, defence, and electronics alike. With demand accelerating on the back of transport electrification and renewable energy integration, Europe faces a hard truth: it remains heavily reliant on non-European supply chains and continues to lag Asian producers on cost, nowhere more acutely than at the raw materials stage.
Michael Lippert, Chairman of the Batteries European Partnership Association (BEPA), frames unity — across research, industry and policymakers — as the precondition for progress, warning that fragmented effort will only deepen Europe’s disadvantage. The Blueprint organises the challenge around four interlinked pillars: scope, scale, speed and sustainability, each demanding a coordinated R&I response that spans the full value chain, from mining and refining through to end-use deployment.
Raw materials and critical minerals sit at the sharpest edge of this challenge. China currently controls more than 90% of global refining capacity for many battery-critical materials, and the IEA estimates that a single month’s disruption to Chinese battery supply exports could wipe out roughly USD 17 billion in EV production globally — with European factories bearing the brunt. Yet this same segment is also where Europe’s opportunity is greatest: raw and advanced materials account for around half of the projected EUR 450 billion global battery value pool by 2030, and upstream margins (20–40% EBITDA) dwarf the thin 5–10% margins typical of cell manufacturing. Europe’s established chemicals and materials base gives it a genuine foundation to compete here, provided R&I investment follows.
The report calls for deliberate diversification — of both chemistries and applications — to reduce Europe’s overreliance on automotive as its sole commercial anchor. Sodium-ion chemistry, for instance, is highlighted as a route to cobalt-free, lower-cost batteries that eases pressure on critical mineral demand. On the materials side, the Blueprint pushes for low-footprint lithium extraction, refining processes for next-generation raw materials, and flexible recycling capable of handling mixed and low-value feedstocks — alongside design-for-recycling principles that improve recovery rates at end of life. It also flags a specific policy obstacle: the current regulatory classification of black mass restricts its cross-border movement within Europe, hampering the recycling economy the sector needs.
To carry this forward, the Blueprint proposes a dedicated Batteries Partnership under the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), building on BATT4EU, to close gaps in both production capacity and technological readiness. It also identifies industrial-scale recycling and refining facilities — particularly for black mass processing and critical material recovery — as priority targets for the European Competitiveness Fund and Innovation Fund, given the scale of capital required and the strategic supply-chain sovereignty at stake. National consultations across 13 countries reinforce this: refining and battery-waste processing rank as “High” to “Very High” priorities in most surveyed markets, with Sweden, Denmark, Portugal and Finland placing particular emphasis on this segment.
Beyond materials, the Blueprint underscores the need for Europe to build domestic manufacturing capacity to meet demand without deepening import reliance — while pursuing next-generation technologies in parallel with scaling today’s production. This dual sprint-and-marathon approach, the report argues, is what will let Europe close the competitiveness gap while building lasting technological independence.
