Concordia's Volt-Age is co-organizing the upcoming Conference on Advanced Lithium Batteries in Montreal

It's a mouthful, but it's coming to town: the 15th International Conference on Advanced Lithium Batteries for Automobile Applications (ABAA) will take place at Montreal's Palais des congrès from October 28 to 30.

ABAA is co-organized by the Volt-Age electrification research program and features Concordia as a sponsor. The conference will host top policymakers from across the United States, China, Europe, Japan and Korea as they discuss the future of battery technology for automobiles.

Featured speakers include Nobel Laureates Steven Chu and Stanley Whittingham, as well as François-Philippe Champagne, Canada's minister of innovation, science and industry.

Shaping the future of sustainable mobility

"ABAA is a highly influential event in the field of electric vehicle (EV) battery technology," says invited speaker Sixu Deng, an assistant professor in Concordia's Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering whose research centres on the development of high-performance energy storage devices.           

"The ABAA conference aims to advance global research and develpment in lithium battery technologies specifically tailored for automotive applications. The conference plays a crucial role in shaping the future of sustainable mobility by promoting the latest innovations and fostering international collaboration among policymakers, automakers, battery manufacturers and leading scientists," he says.

A specialist in fields like energy storage, solid-state and ion-based batteries, Deng will give a talk entitled "Development of High-Performance Inorganic Solid-State Battery Cathodes."

"By bringing together top experts and industry leaders from around the world, the conference accelerates the exchange of ideas and technological advancements in lithium battery development,” Deng notes.

“Additionally, the conference provides a platform for high-level discussions and partnerships, encouraging global collaboration to tackle the challenges of EV battery technology. It emphasizes the adoption of sustainable practices in the lithium battery industry, which is critical for reducing the environmental impact of EVs and supporting the transition to a carbon-neutral future."

Deng cites Whittingham of Binghamton University, and Yi Cui of Stanford as speakers that he's looking forward to seeing.

Graphite and carbon-neutral battery anodes

Invited speaker Éric Desaulniers, a geophysicist by trade, discovered the world-class Matawinie graphite reserve in Saint-Michel-des-Saints, north of Montreal. He'll be speaking on behalf of Nouveau Monde Graphite, his company driven by environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles that will become North America's largest graphite supplier for the battery and EV market.

Graphite, commonly used in pencils, is a non-metallic mineral that conducts heat and electricity and is increasingly used in batteries.

"After we discovered the deposit, we kept developing it and now we have to deliver a very fancy product," he says. "There's two sides to a lithium-ion battery, the cathode and the anode, and we're making the materials that go in the anode."

Nouveau Monde Graphite uses a carbon-neutral process to create the anodes.

"We have a lot of hydroelectricity here in Quebec, so it's great to have access to it," he says. "Our job is to make sure all our processes use hydro, even including the all-electric mine we're developing. So now every single process from crushing the rock all the way to producing the battery anode material at the end is using hydroelectricity. So it's a very minimal carbon footprint. And that's a major difference compared to what's currently done in Asia, for example."

This puts Quebec at the cutting edge of carbon-neutral mining and battery production, something of which Desaulniers is proud.

"Quebec is the only place in the world where start to finish we use hydro for these processes," he adds. "We're working with partners to develop the first open-pit all-electric mine in the world and it's 12 times less environmentally impactful."  

With his business and mining background, Desaulniers is happy for the opportunity to address a scientific audience at the ABAA conference.

"I'm looking forward to discussing with all the scientific minds who will be there. After all our years of research and development, we have real needs and need to build large-scale, and I'd love to get their perspectives on that."

The Concordia-sponsored 15th International Conference on Advanced Lithium Batteries for Automobile Applications will take place at Montreal's Palais des congrès from October 28 to 30. Register here to attend.