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Battery Show Europe Key Takeaways
As part of our ongoing thought-piece series, Agnese Rizzato, senior engineer in our battery team, shares her reflections from this year’s Battery Show Europe in Stuttgart—an event that made clear just how quickly the battery sector is evolving.
The Battery Show Europe 2025 in Stuttgart offered valuable insight into the latest innovations and challenges across the battery industry.
Several trends emerged from the exhibition floor, particularly in equipment manufacturing and materials development, reflecting both technical progress and strategic shifts across the value chain.
One of the most notable themes was the clear and growing momentum behind dry coating technologies. Although industry interest in dry coating has been building over the past few years, this edition of the show confirmed that the technology is now moving into commercial deployment, particularly in China, where suppliers are already delivering full-scale lines. The key driver remains the reduction of capital and operational expenditure: traditional coaters are typically large, high-footprint machines that require energy-intensive drying systems and solvent recovery units. By eliminating the solvent from electrode slurry preparation, dry coating enables more compact lines with significantly lower energy use.
The rise of dry coating is also closely tied to the accelerating development of solid-state batteries, which replace the traditional liquid electrolyte with a solid one, promising improved safety and significantly higher energy density. Companies such as CATL, Welion, ProLogium, Blue Solutions and QuantumScape are already active in this space, with several having announced or delivered early-generation solid-state battery products or pilot lines. While the Asian market leads on industrial deployment, interest in Europe is growing, with companies such as Ilika, and R&D institutions starting to explore pilot-scale applications.
Thermal management also stood out across the exhibition. A wide range of companies showcased both hardware and software solutions to address this known challenge in Lithium-ion battery systems. Effective cooling remains a key enabler of battery safety, performance and lifespan, and it was clear that innovation in this area is a major area of focus for manufacturers, from advanced materials to predictive control systems.
Among battery materials manufacturers, there was a noticeable increase in exhibitors, particularly those working on anode and cathode active materials. While many of these companies are still headquartered in Asia, there is a rising number of joint ventures and partnerships focused on establishing production capacity in Europe. This trend is driven, not only by the need to mitigate supply chain risks, but also by growing regulatory and market pressure to support localisation, sustainability and recycling of critical battery materials.
A particularly interesting area of innovation came from the materials and adhesives sector, where different companies presented developments in debonding adhesives. At present, most battery modules and packs are assembled using permanent adhesives (either glues or tapes), which presents a challenge when rework is required during production and even more so at end-of-life. Damaged components often cannot be separated without being scrapped, especially if cells are involved. Debonding adhesives, which can be triggered thermally or electrically, offer a promising route to more repairable and recyclable battery systems. While still at the development stage, the concept attracted considerable attention and points to a shift towards more circular design practices in battery manufacturing.
Overall, the show maintained a strong atmosphere of engagement and momentum. While it’s clear that some areas of the sector are navigating strategic recalibrations in response to global challenges, the consistent presence of new technologies and partnerships indicates a resilient industry focused on innovation and long-term growth.
For all press, media or general enquiries, please contact David Stewart on david.stewart@hssmi.com
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