Battery

In order to locate production of batteries on the African continent it is important to have stable conditions for investments.

Therefore, SGIT Steinbeis Global Institute Tübingen of Steinbeis University was awarded by UNECA for developing for a robust legal and regulatory framework for the Kiswishi Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

This framework would provide the Zone’s clients and investors with following advantages:

• a safe and secure ecosystem to conduct their business
• international standards and principles of common law that is tailored to the region’s unique needs
• creating of the optimal environment for industries and services to grow.

Currently, the SEZ is identified and the feasibility for the pilot plant and the batteries design is in preparation. The battery plant is linked to the value chain in DRC and therefore it will be a very competitive plant. Additionally, a new framework for the establishment of a national leasing corporation for an ecosystem of recycling or upcycling of strategic metals (cobalt or other critical metals for battery production), using distributed ledger technology (DLT) like blockchain.

Overall, a plant with 40 GW production capacity divided into 2 lines with a capacity of 20 GW of each line is planned. Following activities are planned in a step-by-step process:

1. Development of new high-performance batteries together with research partners in DRC, Zambia and Germany. For this, Lubumbashi University, Zambia University, Copperbelt University and Steinbeis University have built a development partnership.
2. In line with the set-up of a 40GW production plant, it is required to start with a pilot plant. There, the whole production processes are implemented and tested. In this pilot plant three production lines are installed for the three battery formats cylindrical, prismatic and pouch.
3. The pilot plant is linked to the Center of Excellence where the experts are trained and educated. Overall, more than 1000 experts for production and management are needed.

4. Based on the pilot plant the 20 GW plant is planned and implemented. Overall, it is planned to establish several manufacturing plants. One plant for car batteries will be set up in Kongo, and one in member states of Gulf Cooperation Council for high performance batteries for drones and satellites.